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GRAMPIAN ON 
FINE GRAIN 


by 


Harry Champlin 


CAMERA CRAFT PUBLISHING COMPANY 


425 Bush Street 


Sail Francisco, Calif. 


T7U 

•G^ 

m 


Copyright 1938 

Camera Craft Publishing Company 

San Francisco 


All rights reserved. This book or parts 
thereof may not be reproduced in any 
form without permission in writing 
from the publishers. 


Other Books hy 

HARRY CHAMPLIN 

Brilliance - Gradation - Sharpness 
With the Miniature Camera 


Second Editioti Revised 
November, 1938 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
BY 

THE MERCURY PRESS, SAN FRANCISCO 

©Cl A 1245 57 


DEC 14 1938 







Foreword 


Introduction ........ 8 

Vast improvement in cameras and film. 

Principal causes of failure. 


Chapter One ........ 11 


Darkroom Procedures. 

Development a routine procedure. 

Developing equipment. Check-up before development. 
Care of the hands. Pre-soalcing. Inspection during devel¬ 
opment. Safe lights. Agitation. A worth while experiment. 
Hardening—Stop bath—why required. Hardening baths 
before development. The fixing bath. Dangers of variations 
in temperatures of solutions. TV ashing. Drying. The drying 
cabinet. 

Chapter Two.24 


Relation of Exposure to Development. 

Exposure controls density. Development controls contrast. 
Developing time must be adjusted to film characteristics. 
Film speed ratings. Special characteristics of slow fine 
grain films. Special characteristics of fast films. Pre¬ 
fogging. TV hat type of film to use. Correct exposure. 

Chapter Three ........ 31 

Perform this experiment! 

Chapter Four ........ 34 

Fine Grain Developers. 

The problem of Fine Grain. Short-comings of early for¬ 
mulas. Essential constituents of a developer and their 
action. Analysis of present fine grain formulas. Formulas 
discussed: D-76, D-76-d, Glycin, straight paraphenylene- 
diamine, paraphenylenediamine plus tri-basic sodium phos¬ 
phate or ammonium chloride, Sease No. 3, paraphenylene- 
diamine-glycin-metol. 


4 


. 48 


Chapter Five 

Developing Developers. 

The objective sought. Early formulas No. 5 and No. 6. 
The Champlin No. 7 , No. 8, No. 10 recommended for 
commercial finishing. The Champlin No. 9. Experiments 
with nickel salts. No. 11 and No. 14. Success of No. 15. 


Chapter Six ........ 91 

Champlin 16 . 

Its action and characteristics. 


Chapter Seven.103 

Causes of Failure. 

Impure water. Compounding of formulas. Keeping devel¬ 
opers. Over-working developers. The Fixing Bath. Reticu¬ 
lation. Hardening. Drying. Loading the camera. Fresh 
film. Sources of supply. 

Appendix A . . . . . . .112 

Amateur Films. 

Table of comparative speed values. Table of development 
times for amateur films. Minimum, average, and maximum 
emulsion speed ratings in daylight, and average ratings in 
Mazda light, with Champlin 16. 


Appendix B ....... 118 

Developing Formulas. 

Formulas. Uses. Keeping cjualities. Emulsion speed rating . 
Developing Times. 

Appendix C ....... 129 

General chemicals, raw materials and developing substanc¬ 
es used in Fine Grain Developing Formulae. 


Advertisements . . . . . . . .155 


5 


FOREWORD 


Some time ago, I read an article by a disgruntled man. 
While yet young, he had decided to become a photogra¬ 
pher; he wished to become a pictorialist. In his desire 
to make himself proficient in this field, he first studied 
the action of gelatin emulsions and the photochemical 
action of the haloid salts in conjunction with gelatin 
both from the physical and the chemical standpoint. 
When he had finished this preliminary work, he felt 
that he was prepared to start his career. 

After studying this subject for several years, he gath¬ 
ered together all of his pictures and found that they 
were not only lacking from an artistic standpoint hut 
also left much to be desired technically. His conclusion 
was that while he had approached one of these technical 
problems and made it the sum total of his research, he 
should have first trained as an artist, because an artist ap¬ 
proaches the subject as a unit and gathers only such 
technical knowledge as he needs as part of the sum total 
of his endeavor. 

Mr. Champlin’s approach to this subject is not that of 
a scientist hut that of an artist. Early he found that 
there were certain technical difficulties which hampered 
the artistic rendering of his pictures—certain deficien¬ 
cies or inherent defects in the negatives, which as a pic¬ 
torialist, he has endeavored to correct. The degree to 
which he has been successful can best he determined by 
the response of the artists. 

He has done a grand job, and we are all proud to know 
a man who, in spite of harsh criticism from the “unbe¬ 
lievers,” has dared to produce negatives which for the 
first time allow us a better conception of “fine grain” 
and “quality.” 

J. P. Sampson, M. D. 


6 


CHAMPLIN ON 


FINE GRAIN 


INTRODUCTION 


Photography with a miniature camera is a science oi 
the highest order. During the past ten years the minia¬ 
ture camera has heen made an instrument of mechan¬ 
ical precision. Lenses for these little cameras are marvels 
of optical speed and definition. Film manufacturers 
have kept pace with the advances made in these minia¬ 
ture cameras and have brought forth emulsions of 
almost unbelievable light-sensitivity and color correc¬ 
tion. Miniature photography is truly a science. 

The first roll of film taken with a miniature camera 
will likely be a great disappointment to the proud owner 
of that camera. So much is expected from these little 
cameras with their marvelous lenses and excellent films, 
that this disappointment is probably greater than it 
really should be. The camera, lens, and film are not at 
fault; the fault actually lies either with the operator of 
the camera or in the processing of the film after the ex¬ 
posure was made. 

The principal defects in miniature negatives are 
movement of the camera, incorrect exposure, and im¬ 
proper processing or developing. Movement of the cam¬ 
era is a very common defect in miniature negatives and 
the result is a definite lack of sharpness of the whole 
negative. This fault probably accounts for much adverse 
criticism of the miniature camera. Experience gained 
with thousands of rolls of miniature negatives has shown 
that very few people can hold any camera in their hand 
during an exposure of 1/25 of a second without some 
movement showing in the negative. This movement can 
he almost imperceptible and yet it will cause a slight 


8 


softening of the definition of a negative. This statement 
will prohahly bring loud protests from many camera en¬ 
thusiasts who have been taking pictures for years with 
large cameras at 1/25 of a second. They will say that 
they can hold their cameras perfectly steady during ex¬ 
posures of this speed and will probably produce pictures 
to prove it. If the negatives made by these photogra¬ 
phers were enlarged to as many times their original size 
as miniature negatives are enlarged, they would cer¬ 
tainly be surprised. The size of the camera has nothing 
whatsoever to do with this fault. 

A shutter speed of not less than 1/100 of a second is 
recommended whenever any camera is to be held in the 
hand. An excellent practice is to set the shutter at 1/100 
of a second and to vary the diaphragm of the lens in ac¬ 
cordance with the light conditions. This practice will 
result in a much higher percentage of good negatives 
and will eliminate the idea that a larger camera would 
do better work. 

Incorrect exposure is likewise a serious menace to 
good photography with a miniature camera. It is, in 
fact, a serious menace to good photography with any 
camera. If negatives are under-exposed, there will he a 
decided flatness or lack of brilliance to the final picture. 
Errors in exposure can be corrected by the proper use of 
a good exposure meter. An exposure meter should he a 
part of the equipment of every serious photographer, 
regardless of the camera size. In fact, the exposure 
meter should be a part of the camera and one firm, Carl 
Zeiss, has incorporated an exposure meter in one of the 
models of their Contax camera. Eastman has recently 
carried this idea a step further with their Super Kodak 
Six-20 in which the lens aperture is automatically regu¬ 
lated by a built-in exposure meter. 

The processing or developing of a miniature negative 
is a simple procedure. It is exactly the same in principle 
as the development of a large negative. The tremendous 
strides made by the miniature camera have resulted in 


9 


devices for every conceivable phase of photography. 
Small tanks have been made for those who wish to 
process or develop their own film. These tanks are in¬ 
genious little affairs with reels upon which the film is 
wound in the dark. After the reel is in the tank and the 
lid of the tank replaced, the dark room can be dis¬ 
pensed with. The solution for developing film can he 
poured into a light-tight aperture in the lid of the tank 
and when development time is completed, this solution 
can be poured off and replaced with a fixing bath. All 
that is required in this work is a certain amount of care. 
One does not have to be a chemist or a laboratory spe¬ 
cialist to do this work, and it is really one of the chief 
joys of miniature photography. The man who uses one 
of these fine precision instruments and then allows some 
one else to develop his films and make his prints can 
never really hope to know the full measure of enjoy¬ 
ment of miniature photography. 

The author is aware of the fact that there is a consider¬ 
able variety of developing formulas given in this hook. 
In order to make the hook useful to the reader who is 
interested in experimenting in this field it was necessary 
to include something of the history of fine grain develop¬ 
ers, and to trace the course of experiment and reasoning 
which brought the Champlin formulas into being. 

The reader who is interested only in practical results 
is cautioned against the folly of continually changing 
from one developer to another , and is advised to confine 
his tests to the Champlin #16 formula. The writer knows 
that this is his best formula , and is of the opinion that it 
is the best fine grain developer available to the miniature 
photographer today. 


10 


CHAPTER ONE 


Dark-Room Procedure 


The development of miniature negatives is a routine 
procedure. It is no different from the developing process 
used for any negative, regardless of size. More care must 
be exercised, however, because the negative is so small, 
and special fine grain formulas should be used. In actual 
practice all that the miniature photographer has to do 
is to take a suitable developing formula and insert the 
film in it. After a certain definite time has elapsed, the 
film should be rinsed in a bath compounded of certain 
chemicals so that the chemicals carried in the film from 
the developer will be neutralized. After the rinse in the 
stop bath, the negatives should be fixed in a good com¬ 
bination hardening-fixing solution. All that remains 
after these operations have been completed is the final 
wash to rid the film of all chemicals. 

Miniature negative development is really one of the 
joys of miniature photography. It is definitely not an 
art filled with many deep mysteries. It does, however, 
require a maximum of care if satisfactory results are to 
be obtained. Before going further, we must understand 
clearly that miniature camera negatives have to be en¬ 
larged to many times their original size. Any defects 
such as scratches, dust, or pin holes will be enlarged 
also. These defects can be corrected by retouching the 
final print, but they can be avoided completely through 
the exercise of care and cleanliness. 

Roll films are best developed in one of the small tanks 


11 


made especially for this purpose. The tank consists of a 
light-tight affair containing a reel upon which the film 
is wound. The reels are spirals so that the film can be 
wound without touching and so that there will be a free 
access of developer to all parts of the film. The lids of 
these tanks fit snugly and usually are made with an 
opening so that solutions can be poured in or out with¬ 
out allowing any light to enter. 

The films are removed from the camera and wound 
upon the reel in the dark. The reel is then inserted in 
the tank and the tank covered with the lid. All subse¬ 
quent operations can be conducted in a light room. 
Where several films are to be developed at one time in a 
dark room, the best method is to have several reels. All 
of the loaded reels are put into a pyrex beaker of de¬ 
veloper. Pyrex beakers are obtainable from chemical 
and scientific supply houses. The beaker should be wide 
enough inside to hold the reel and high enough to ac¬ 
commodate as many reels as are desired for one devel¬ 
oping. A stainless steel heavy gauge wire should he 
used upon which to string the reels so that they can be 
lifted in and out of the tank altogether. This wire should 
naturally be formed so that the bottom reel will not 
slip off. 

Tanks and reels are made of either a composition such 
as bakelite or of stainless steel. Some reels have a cellu¬ 
loid apron which is used for proper separation of the 
film instead of the spiral. Stainless steel reels and tanks 
are generally more satisfactory; they are unbreakable 
and unaffected by the solutions used in processing film. 
A very satisfactory reel of this type is one made in this 
country called the Nikor, made of stainless steel. Three 
of these Nikor reels will fit nicely into a 1500 cc pyrex 
beaker, while a 2000 cc beaker will hold four reels. 

Before commencing the development of a roll of nega¬ 
tives, be absolutely sure that the temperature of the 
solution is correct. If it is too low, it can be brought up 
by heating with an immersion type tumbler heater, ob- 


12 



Prof. A. D. Keller 


Eastman Super X, exposed at Weston 40. 

Developed in Champlin #1.^ 

“The #7 formula has been used in the camera class of the 
University of California at Los Angeles for one year with splendid 

— A. D. Keller, Prof, of Photography, U.C.L. A. 


13 




tainable from any electric supply house, or by any other 
means. If the temperature is too high, the solution 
should be cooled. This is best accomplished by pouring 
the solution into a bottle and setting the hottle into a 
container of cold water. Have the other solutions to be 
used after development, such as the stop bath and the 
fixing bath, ready. If films are to be developed in 
beakers, it is best to have three of these, one for the 
developing solution, one for the stop bath, and one for 
the fixing bath. If single reels of film are to be devel¬ 
oped, this should be done in a tank. After the film has 
been loaded into the tank and the lid fitted over the 
tank, pour the developer into the aperture provided for 
this purpose. The tank should then be placed in a tray 
or other receptacle because with agitation there will be 
a certain seepage of developer and this will probably 
stain your hands and anything it touches. These stains 
are almost impossible to remove. This is specially true 
if paraphenylenediamine is used as a reducing agent. 
Any developer which spills out of the tray should be 
wiped up immediately and the place washed with soap 
and water. The hands should be washed with a mild 
alkaline soap such as that made by the Pacific Coast 
Borax Company and sold under the trade name 
“Boraxo.” 

It is not necessary to soak the film in clear water prior 
to developing. Soaking the film prior to development 
will naturally have a slight softening effect upon the 
gelatin and naturally some of the chemical elements will 
be dissolved out into the soaking water. Pre-soaking 
was advocated as a cure for air-bells which have a habit 
of forming upon the surface of the film and preventing 
the developer from acting upon the film behind them. 
A much better way to rid the film of these air-bells is to 
agitate the film thoroughly at given intervals during the 
process of development. If films are soaked thoroughly 
in clear water prior to development, the developing 
time will naturally be decreased slightly. Any other 


14 


advantage gained by prior soaking is of doubtful value. 

After the films have been in the developer for two or 
three minutes, it is possible, with care, to inspect them 
by the light of a suitable safelamp. With a developer 
containing paraphenylenediamine, there is a slight de¬ 
sensitizing action, and this desensitizing action will al¬ 
low a careful worker to use a safelight in the dark room. 
Extreme care must be exercised, however, if fog. due to 
exposure of super-sensitive material to light, is to be 
prevented. The desensitizing action of certain dyes, 
such as paraphenylenediamine, are of a distinct advan¬ 
tage because they prevent a certain amount of chemical 
fog and light fog from forming upon the surface of the 
film during visual inspection. The selection of a safe- 
lamp for this use should be made with care. A Kodak 
Safelamp fitted with either an Eastman Series 3 Pan¬ 
chromatic Safelight or an Agfa Super-sensitive Panchro¬ 
matic Safelight, is recommended for use with ultra¬ 
rapid panchromatic film emulsions. The lamp should 
not exceed ten watts. Any light leakage around the glass 
or the opening for the glass should be sealed with ad¬ 
hesive tape. 

Inspection of a film is a worth while practice because 
developers used in miniature camera work are used 
over and over again. Now, developers do break down. 
This is an unalterable law of photographic chemistry 
and inspection by the light of a suitable safelamp will 
tell whether or not development is proceeding as it 
should. To inspect a film requires a little experience. 
Different films behave differently in a developer and all 
developers do not build up contrast exactly alike. To 
learn something about the appearance of a negative 
during the stages of development, one should take a roll 
of film of one subject and made at the correct exposure. 
This film should be developed in the developer consid¬ 
ered best suited to the worker’s individual needs. If the 
developing time for proper contrast with this developer 
is, for example, fifteen minutes, the film should be in- 


15 


spected every two minutes and after ten minutes have 
elapsed, one or two frames should be cut from the roll 
and dropped into the fixing bath. This procedure 
should be duplicated every minute until the film is used 
up. Each time the density of the image should be no¬ 
ticed and the films should be so separated in the fixing 
bath that they can be identified. After the negatives 
have been cleared in the fixing bath, their densities can 
be compared with the density of image noted by inspec¬ 
tion under the safelight. Inspections of films during the 
process of development is not entirely necessary because 
there are times and temperature tables for each devel¬ 
oper. It is, however, a good practice to inspect a film 
at the end of the correct developing time. Inspection 
should be made of just a few frames. If the densities 
appear correct, the film can be fixed; if they are not 
correct, the film should be developed longer. Do not 
attempt to handle the reel or film with the bare hands 
if the developer contains paraphenylenediamine. This 
practice may lead to a had staining of the hands which 
can be removed only by the process of time. 

During the process of development the film should he 
agitated every two minutes or so to prevent the forma¬ 
tion of air-bells and streaks due to uneven development. 
The best method is to divide the total developing time 
into ten parts so that the film will be agitated at evenlv 
spaced intervals ten times during the process of develop¬ 
ment. For example, if the total developing time is 
twenty minutes, agitate every two minutes. Thb: is the 
only way in which accuracy can be assured. Ordinary 
roll film need not he agitated so often because this film 
has no sprocket holes along the edges. The sprocket 
holes of 35 mm film will cause definite streaks of light 
and dark along one edge of the film if it is not agitated 
sufficiently during development. Continuous agitation 
is, of course, the best and will cause a decrease in devel¬ 
oping time. This decrease in developing time usuallv 
amounts to about twenty per cent of the times given. 


16 


After development has been completed, pour off the 
solution and refill the tank with a solution consisting of: 

Water. 16 ounces 500 ccs 

Sodium Bisulphite.109 grains 7 grams 

Potassium Chrome Alum.109 grains 7 grams 

It is not necessary to weigh these chemicals with the 
utmost precision; in fact, we can use a half teaspoonful 
of each in the specified quantity of water. 

This bath will stop development instantly. It will 
also harden the film completely so that there will be 
much less chance of any harm occurring to the emulsion 
surface during subsequent operations. This hath should 
be used because the chemicals in all fine grain formulas 
will quickly break down a fresh hardening-fixing solu¬ 
tion. This is particularly true if the developer contains 
paraphenylenediamine and glycin. The breakdown of a 
hardening-fixing bath is not apparent and yet it is very 
serious because it permits undue swelling of the gelatin 
in the fixing bath and final wash, and sometimes reticu¬ 
lation results. Reticulation is serious and means that 
the gelatin of the emulsion has swollen so far that its 
structure has been affected and upon drying, it contracts 
into an irregularly shaped series of wrinkles. For this 
reason a stop bath should always be used between de¬ 
veloping and fixation. The stop bath will neutralize 
some of the chemicals carried in the film from the de¬ 
veloper to the fixing bath. In addition to this neutraliz¬ 
ing effect, there will be a decided hardening which is 
due to the potassium chrome alum. This chemical is 
one of the best gelatin hardeners, but its life is very 
short. For this reason it is wise to use a fresh stop bath 
for each batch of films developed. At the most , the stop 
bath should not be used longer than one day. 

The use of a hardening bath prior to development is 
a practice to be thoroughly discouraged. No gelatin hard¬ 
ener will completely harden film and make it impervious 
to water. If we harden a film and then leave it in water 
long enough, it will soften. A pre-hardening hath pre¬ 
vents softening of the gelatin by the developer to the 


17 





extent that the developer cannot penetrate the film and 
properly attack all of the light-affected silver. By the 
time the film reaches the final wash, some of the effects 
of the pre-hardening have begun to wear off and the film 
is not fully protected from possible injury. Formalin and 
formaldehyde are the chemicals generally used in pre¬ 
hardening and these chemicals are responsible for con¬ 
siderable fog, streaks in the developed image, and some 
loss of shadow detail. This last fault is caused by the 
inability of the developer to thoroughly penetrate the 
gelatin and reduce all of the light-affected silver par¬ 
ticles in the weaker portion of the negative. If potassium 
chrome alum is used as a pre-hardening hath, there is an 
ever-present danger that the effects of this chemical will 
be counteracted by some chemical in the developer and 
this counteraction might result in reticulation. 

Films should be agitated in the stop bath. There is a 
tendency for potassium chrome alum to deposit a slight 
chemical sludge upon the surface of an emulsion. This 
deposit will not occur if the films are agitated. Films 
can be left in the stop hath for from thirty seconds to 
three minutes. The actual length of time is unimpor¬ 
tant although it should not he less than thirty seconds. 
The stop hath should then he poured off and the fixing 
bath poured into the tank. 

The fixing hath is used to dissolve out of the film all 
of the silver which was not light-affected and then re¬ 
duced by the developing solution. A good fixing bath is 
one compounded with plain hypo crystals and Velox 
liquid hardener in the proportions recommended by the 
Eastman Kodak Company. For those who prefer to mix 
their own solution, the regular hypo-sulphite-acetic 
acid-alum hath is recommended. This bath is as follows: 


Eastman Formula F-5 


Water. 

.16 ounces 

500 

CCS 

Hypo. 

. 8 ounces 

240 

CCS 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. *4 ounce 

15 

grams 

Acetic Acid 28% pure. 

. 1 Y 2 fluid ounces 

48 

CCS 

Boric Acid crystals. 

. % ounce 

7.5 

grams 

Potassium Alum. 

. J /2 ounce 

15 

grams 

Water to make. 


1 

litre 


18 









Dissolve the chemicals in the order given. This bath 
should be made up in advance because the dissolving 
of hypo in water lowers the temperature of the water. 
The temperature of the fixing bath need not be as care¬ 
fully maintained as the temperature of the developer; 
in fact, experiments conducted by Harry Crawford have 
shown that with paraphenylenediamine-glycin develop¬ 
ers it is possible to plunge the film from a developer of 
72° Fahrenheit to a fixing bath of 62° Fahrenheit with¬ 
out harm. This is contrary to most of the advice given 
miniature camera workers. The most serious change in 
processing is a change from a low temperature to a high 
temperature. This change is very serious and should 
not be made because it will be harmful to the film. 

The amateur photographer is strongly advised against 
maintaining the different solutions used in development 
at different temperatures. Gelatin is really a weak sub¬ 
stance and care and common sense should be exercised 
with it. When gelatin is immersed in water, it absorbs 
water and swells, and the rate of absorption and swell¬ 
ing are in proportion to the temperature of the water. 
If the water temperature is high, the gelatin will swell 
more, while if the temperature is low, it will absorb 
less water, and consequently the swelling will decrease. 
From this it will be seen that changes in temperature 
will materially affect the gelatin, and if the changes in 
temperature are beyond a few degrees, the gelatin may 
expand or contract with such rapidity that the structure 
of the gelatin is materially affected. 

The best fixing hath for general use with miniature 
cameras is one made fresh for each day’s run of films. A 
bath which works perfectly and with a minimum of 
time is made as follows: 

Water.16 ounces 500 ccs 


Hypo . 4 ounces 

120 grams 

Dissolve completely, then add: 

Sodium Bisulphite. 

Potassium Chrome Alum. 

Ammonium Chloride. 

.150 grains 
...150 grains 
... y< 2 . ounce 

10 grams 
10 grams 
14 grams 


19 







In preparing this fixing bath, dissolve one pint (480 
grams) of plain hypo crystals in one-half gallon (2 
litres) of water. This will be a stock solution. For use, 
take sixteen ounces of this solution and add the other 
ingredients to it. Films will fix perfectly and be fully 
hardened in this solution in about ten minutes. This fix¬ 
ing hath should be used and then discarded. This is 
probably the safest way for the miniature camera pho¬ 
tographer to fix his films and if this bath is used, the 
stop bath can he dispensed with. After fixation the 
films should be washed in running water in order to re¬ 
move all of the hypo and other chemicals from the 
emulsion. The minimum time required under the most 
efficient washing conditions will he from fifteen to 
twenty minutes, but the safest washing time for the ama¬ 
teur photographer is from forty minutes to one hour. If 
films are not properly washed, there will he a continued 
action by the chemicals in the emulsion and sooner or 
later the films will he a total loss. 

The film has now been completely developed, fixed, 
and washed, and may he removed from the reel. A clip 
should he fastened to each end and the film hung up for 
wiping. The best type of film clip is one with a couple 
of teeth which penetrate through the film. The ends of 
the film should be doubled over so that they will not 
break loose from the clip. In wiping the film use either 
a viscose sponge or a chamois. For all practical pur¬ 
poses the chamois is perfectly satisfactory for general 
use. It should he kept in a jar of water and never al¬ 
lowed to dry out. The film should be wiped by wringing 
the chamois dry and drawing it down hard over the film. 
This will not scratch the film unless through carelessness 
the chamois or viscose sponge has been allowed to collect 
grit. Be sure that the film is wiped surface dry so that 
no water spots or streaks are left on either side. After 
wiping the film, hang it up to dry. Some workers advo¬ 
cate spraying the film with distilled water after develop¬ 
ing. This practice has advantages, hut it is not neces- 


20 



“Clark Gable and Director John Stahl ” Rex Hardy- 

Courtesy Time, Inc. and Life. 

Contax with F:1.5 Sonnar; DuPont Superior exposed at Weston 32, 
by Mazda light. Developer, Champlin #15. 

“Modern high speed photography would be impossible without 
modern high speed lenses in combination with high speed emul¬ 
sions. The advantages derived from this combination would in 
turn be void without a modern high speed developer.” 

—Rex Hardy 


21 




sary. A thorough wiping of the surface of the film with 
a chamois will remove all moisture and the sediment in 
the moisture just as thoroughly without the distilled 
water. 

Grain size will he affected hy the length of time re¬ 
quired to dry a film. Film should he dried if possible 
in about thirty minutes. If too long a time is taken for 
this part of the processing of the film, there will be 
some agglomeration or hunching of the reduced silver 
grains in the emulsion. Likewise, if drying is too rapid, 
there will be additional turbulence created within the 
emulsion and agglomeration of the grains will result. 
The best way to dry film is to make a metal lined cabi¬ 
net just large enough to hold the strips of film and to 
force warm air through this cabinet with a small heat¬ 
ing fan. Such an arrangement is inexpensive and most 
satisfactory. The heat from the fan should he turned 
off as soon as the films are thoroughly dried. If the 
films are subjected to a warm air fan for too long a 
period, there is a possibility that they will become too 
brittle and will require reconditioning with glycerine 
and water. Once drying has commenced at a certain 
temperature, do not change that temperature because 
there will be an unevenness of drying and this will 
surely show in the film. 

After processing the films, be sure to clean the tank 
and other containers immediately. Any developer which 
spilled out of the tank into the tray can be poured hack 
into the bottle if it was not contaminated with either 
the stop bath or fixing hath. If so much as one drop of 
either of these baths spilled into the tray, this surplus 
developer should be discarded. 


22 


Vent to 

o vts>i de 
bus /d / n 




23 


































CHAPTER TWO 


Relation of Exposure to Development 


In developing any film it is well to remember that 
the density of the resulting negative will be in direct 
proportion to the amount of exposure that negative re¬ 
ceived, and the contrast of the negative will depend en¬ 
tirely upon the length of time that negative was allowed 
to remain in the developer. Density of the negative is 
a result of exposure, while contrast is the result of devel¬ 
opment. These two facts are not fully understood hv 
the majority of amateur photographers. If a negative 
lacks shadow detail, that negative did not receive proper 
exposure. If a negative does not have sufficient contrast, 
it was not developed long enough, while if it has too 
much contrast, it was developed too long. Some films 
develop rapidly and are capable of giving extreme con¬ 
trast in a short developing time, while other films de¬ 
velop slowly and the contrast must be built up by pro¬ 
longed development. As a general rule, slow fine grain 
films develop rapidly and are capable of giving much 
greater contrast than the ultra-rapid type of films. The 
contrast of a film is something entirely aside from the 
density of a film. 

The density of a film determines whether or not there 
is a sufficient deposit in the weaker portions to give full 
shadow detail in a print. The exposure of a film is the 
one factor governing the density of that film. This fact 
can not he stressed too highly. In exposing any film, 


24 


due consideration must be made of the type and special 
characteristics of that film. This is particularly true 
with miniature films because a slight error in exposure 
may completely change the tone scale of the resulting 
negative. 

Film manufacturers do not all use a standard method 
of determining the speed of their emulsions. Each man¬ 
ufacturer uses a different system in arriving at emulsion 
speed and these ratings are usually based upon high¬ 
light detail. In other words, these ratings usually indi¬ 
cate the minimum exposure requirements of the emul¬ 
sion. These ratings are not actually an indication of the 
speed of an emulsion and should not be used as such. 
For example, some fine grain films actually require 
at least fifty per cent more exposure than a highlight 
speed rating would indicate. 

With the list of films in another section of this book, 
minimum, average and maximum Weston speed ratings 
are given, for Champlin 16 in daylight, and average 
Weston ratings for artificial light. A conversion table is 
also supplied for translating the Weston ratings into H. 
& D., Scheiner, or DIN ratings. 

Slow fine grain 35 mm films should actually be given 
at least fifty per cent more exposure than most speed 
ratings would indicate. This statement does not apply to 
the ratings given in this book. Slow fine grain films were 
created in response to a demand by the motion picture 
industry for an emulsion with a fine grain and sufficient 
contrast for the enormous enlargements required by the 
industry in background work. These films develop rapid¬ 
ly and ljuild up an extreme contrast which may be nice 
to look at but is very difficult to print. The developing 
time of a slow fine grained film should be less than is 
usually given by the amateur photographer. This is not 
really under-developing because slow fine grain films are 
usually over-developed. 

When films are inserted in a developing solution, the 
developer penetrates the emulsion and gradually 
changes the silver halide to black metallic silver. The 


25 


longer the film is in the developing solution, the more 
silver halide grains will be reduced to black metallic 
silver. Film emulsions do not record both highlight and 
shadow detail in the same proportion as seen by the 
human eye. The emulsion will be greatly affected by a 
strong highlight, and a weak light emanating from a 
deep shadow will have very little effect upon the emul¬ 
sion. If films are allowed to remain in a developer long 
enough to develop the full intensity of the highlight 
which had a strong effect upon the light-sensitive silver, 
this intensity will he so great that it will completely 
ruin the printing value of the weak shadow. 

Subjects in extremely poor light can best be photo¬ 
graphed with pre-fogged film. This is an old practice 
and yet one about which little is known. The principle 
underlying this practice is based upon the fact that 
there is an initial inertia to a film emulsion. This means 
that a certain amount of light is necessary to start the 
change in the silver halide which takes place during ex¬ 
posure. If film is pre-fogged, given a slight even coating 
of fog by exposure to an even weak light, this initial 
inertia will be overcome. Any additional light then will 
he recorded fully upon the film. For this reason pre- 
fogged film will record a greater wealth of weak shadow 
detail than will films which have not been pre-fogged. 
Pre-fogging of film is a subject about which much will be 
said in the next year or two. It may be that the film 
manufacturers will pre-fog film for use in newspaper and 
other work which can not wait for good and proper light 
conditions. 

The criterion of any negative is the print which can 
be made from it. If the highlights lack detail due to the 
fact that the silver deposit in the negative is too great, 
then it is safe to say that the negative was over-devel¬ 
oped. There must he a perfect balance in a negative 
between the densities of the highest light and the deep¬ 
est shadow in which detail is desired. Slow fine grain 
films are usually under-exposed and then developed to 


26 


the point where the highlight detail is very dense. 
Prints from these negatives have to be made upon very 
soft working paper and even then they have somewhat 
of a soot and chalk appearance. The proper way to 
use any slow fine grain film is to give at least fifty per 
cent more exposure than the manufacturer’s speed 
rating would indicate. This will give full shadow detail. 
These films should then be given less development and 
this will prevent the over-exposed highlights from 
building up to an extreme density. If this practice is 
followed, slow fine grain films will give nicely graded 
negatives with full shadow detail and a splendid deli¬ 
cacy of tones in the highlights. 

Modern ultra-rapid film emulsions should be given a 
minimum exposure and full development. Ultra-rapid 
films are very soft working. The shadow detail is re¬ 
corded easily and these films do not have a tendency 
toward over-exposure in the highlights. The contrast is 
nearer that recorded by the human eye. For this reason 
these films should be developed for a longer time in order 
that sufficient contrast or tonal difference between high¬ 
light and shadow may be built up. If an ultra-rapid 
film is over-exposed to any appreciable extent, shadow 
detail will be built up to the extent that there will be 
very little difference between the highlights and the 
shadows, and a very flat picture will result. Too many 
amateur photographers try to over-expose and under¬ 
develop a film because they were told that this was the 
correct way to secure fine grain negatives. In so doing, 
all contrast and tone quality is sacrificed. 

There are, then, two distinct types of film emulsions 
generally used by miniature camera workers. To under¬ 
stand the difference betwen these two types requires 
some knowledge of the characteristics of these films. 
Slow films are generally finer grained than fast films, 
and naturally, fast films are coarser grained than slow 
films. So far, it has not been possible for film manufac¬ 
turers to create an emulsion combining high speed and 


27 


ultra fine grain. When light strikes one particle of silver 
in an emulsion, it is deflected to the surrounding par¬ 
ticles. We all know that if we have two mirrors, one 
large and one small, the large one will reflect much 
more light than will the small one. Hence, it will be 
seen that the deflection of light from one small particle 
of silver will not cover as great an area as will the light 
deflected from a large particle. It follows then that 
much more light must fall upon a given area of film 
containing microscopically fine grains of silver than will 
be required upon a film of coarse grains in order to 
affect so much light-sensitive silver. Slow films are made 
with fine particles of silver salts, while fast films are 
made with coarser particles of silver salts. There are, of 
course, other more actual reasons why certain films are 
faster than other films. There are sensitizing dyes and 
other feats of chemistry which are responsible for the 
tremendous differences in speeds of emulsions. It is not 
necessary to dwell upon these in this hook. 

There is no actual mystery to correct exposure and 
correct development. The manufacturers of film emul¬ 
sions furnish a speed indication of their films and this 
indication can be used to determine the correct exposure 
of the film. To this indication should be added knowl¬ 
edge gained through experiments with the actual type 
of light conditions upon which the film is to he used. If 
the light has great contrast, with brilliant highlights 
and deep shadows, slow fine grain films should be used. 
These films should he exposed so that detail in the 
shadows will be present in the finished negatives. This 
detail can only be the result of sufficient exposure. The 
contrast built up in developing these slow films will 
take care of the over-exposure so that the result will not 
be flat and uninteresting. On the other hand, if there is 
little contrast in the scene, such as shots from an air¬ 
plane or desert photography, slow films should be used. 
Here again the contrast gained in developing these films 
will build up so that there will be sufficient contrast in 


28 



the final print. For almost all other work ultra-rapid 
emulsions will give the most satisfactory results. With 
these ultra-rapid films there is an ever-present danger of 
over-exposure and flatness. For this reason these films 
should receive a minimum exposure. Ultra-rapid films 
record both highlight and shadow detail better than 
slow films, and the result is more nearly that seen by 
the human eye. 

In developing films there is one standard time which 
will give correct tone scale to a negative. This time fac¬ 
tor is based upon the length of time necessary for the 
reducing agents in the developer to reduce the silver 
halide to metallic silver. If this time factor is varied 
one way or the other, there will be a difference in the 
contrast of the resulting negative. If the developing 
time is decreased, the negative will have less contrast, 
while if it is increased, it will have more contrast. A 
properly developed negative is one which will print 
upon a medium grade paper. There will be detail in the 
highlights and also in the shadows. If contrast paper 
or soft paper is needed to print highlight and shadow de¬ 
tail, the negative was improperly exposed or developed. 
If a properly exposed negative is developed so that it 
will print perfectly upon a medium grade of paper, we 
can safely assume that the correct emulsion speed of 
that film and the correct development time for the nega¬ 
tive were both ascertained. We should make all nega¬ 
tives to print on medium paper because medium paper 
is the only paper which will show the longest tone 
scale. All other papers lack something. To make either 
soft or hard papers, manufacturers are forced to shorten 
one end or other of the tone scale of that paper. It fol¬ 
lows then that a negative which will print best on 
medium paper will have the longest tone scale and the 
one with a long tone scale is the one which received 
correct exposure and was correctly developed. If slow 
films are exposed at the speeds generally utilized by 
miniature camera workers and developed in the gosh- 


29 




awful manner that characterizes so many miles of film, 
they will certainly not print on medium paper. This 
means that they have heen incorrectly exposed and in¬ 
correctly developed. Now, some workers develop all 
their negatives so that they will print on soft bromide 
paper and this is a very serious mistake because soft 
bromide paper will never give the brilliant results that 
can be obtained only with medium paper. This is con¬ 
trary to a great many miniature camera workers’ be¬ 
liefs, hut it is true. 

The time required for a negative to reach correct con¬ 
trast depends upon the developer used and the temper¬ 
ature of the solution. Correct negatives are a result of a 
standardization of developing time and the idea that 
each and every negative in a roll should actually receive 
separate treatment is an old one which should he dis¬ 
carded. If negatives are correctly exposed and devel¬ 
oped for the correct length of time required to bring 
them to proper contrast, all negatives in a roll will print 
on medium paper and this is as it should he. Where 
there are great variations in densities of the negatives in 
a roll, there is an inconsistency in exposure, and no 
variation in the developing time will correct this be¬ 
cause the density of a negative is a function of exposure. 
If the contrast of a negative is incorrect for printing on 
medium paper, then there is a fault in developing. If 
the contrast is too great, the developing time should he 
decreased; if the contrast is too little, the developing 
time should be increased. The contrast of a negative is 
solely a result of the development of that negative. De¬ 
veloping times are lengthened with fine grain developers 
and with other developers because these developers are 
used over and over again and they do wear out. This 
breakdown of the developer necessitates an increase in 
time in order to bring the negatives to full contrast. 
This is the only reason why negatives should be in¬ 
spected. Inspection of a negative should not he used to 
correct errors in exposure. 


30 


CHAPTER THREE 


Perform This Experiment! 


The only way to do good work in photography is to 
know your camera and lens, your film emulsion, and 
your developer. Only by a perfect coordination of all 
of these units can there be any real perfection. Many 
amateur photographers are fully aware of the capabili¬ 
ties and limitations of their camera and lens. They 
know less about their films, and much less about the de¬ 
veloping solutions they use. There should he some un¬ 
derstanding of the actual capabilities of a film with a 
given developing solution. So many films and so many 
developing solutions are used because some one else 
uses them or because some one said they were good or 
because some one wanted to sell them. The only real 
way to determine whether or not a developer is suited 
to the film you are using and to the subjects you are 
photographing is by actual test. Such a test can be made 
simply, and should be made by every one really inter¬ 
ested in photography. 

A series of exposures should be made ranging from 
correct exposure to three stops less than correct expos¬ 
ure and to three stops more than correct exposure. This 
series of exposures should he developed in the formula 
selected for general use. After the negatives have been 
fixed and washed and dried, they should be examined 


31 


carefully for shadow detail and printing quality. A neg¬ 
ative that looks nice is not always the best printing neg¬ 
ative; in fact, miniature negatives that look nice are 
usually worthless. Miniature negatives should be deli¬ 
cate, with a wealth of detail in the shadows, and high¬ 
lights not so dense as to block up in printing. The final 
print is the criterion by which any developing solution 
should be judged. The shadow detail determines 
whether or not the combination of film and developer 
have correct emulsion speed. The reader of this book is 
advised to make a test with his favorite film and favorite 
developing solution upon the subject he enjoys photo¬ 
graphing. A second test should be made with the same 
film and formula No. 16 given in this book. This test 
will show that there is a difference in developers. This 
test should be made with every change in developing 
formula, for only by a direct and honest comparison can 
a true realization of the difference between developers 
be attained. 

A good developing formula is one combining not only 
fine grain and emulsion speed but tone quality as well. 
A miniature negative is so small that differences in tone 
values are difficult to detect with the human eye. The 
tests should be carried through to projection prints. 

In judging a film-developer combination, it is neces¬ 
sary, of course, that the films should be correctly devel¬ 
oped. Filins that are correctly developed will have no 
highlight that is so dense as to be unprintable without 
sacrificing shadows. Our eye is able to penetrate high¬ 
lights and to see detail in them. Our eye is also able at 
the same time to see a certain amount of shadow detail. 
The graduation between the deepest shadow and the 
highest light of a print should be gradual and delicate, 
and not rapid and harsh as is the case with so many 
miniature prints. If the negative which appears to meet 
these requirements best is more or less than the normal 
exposure called for by the light conditions of the scene 
photographed, then that is the correct emulsion speed 


32 



“Insignia for the Club” Will Connell 

Developed in Champlin #7 


“The Champlin theories of development are definitely a step toward 
emulsion speed and fine grain” 

—Will Connell 


of the film-developer combination. The film-developer 
combination requiring the least exposure and giving the 
finest grain is the one which should be used. 


33 


CHAPTER FOUR 


Fine Grain Developers 


To deal intelligently with the subject of grain in a 
negative, there must be some understanding of the prob¬ 
lem. In the manufacture of an emulsion, silver nitrate 
and either potassium or ammonium bromide are mixed 
together and the resulting precipitate is the light-sensi¬ 
tive silver halide in the film. During the exposure in 
the camera light strikes this sensitive silver salt and it 
is deflected as if by a series of prisms or mirrors from 
one silver salt particle to another. Hence, light will 
affect not only the silver salt particle upon which St 
falls, hut also some of the surrounding particles will be¬ 
come affected. The light causes a certain change in the 
silver salt and makes it possible for a metallic silver to 
be formed during the process of development. The 
change which takes place in the silver salt is not actu¬ 
ally known. All that is known is that there is a latent 
image formed in the emulsion. The metallic silver is 
formed during the process of development in direct 
proportion to the amount of light that strikes the emul¬ 
sion during exposure. In the process of development all 
of the silver halide in the emulsion is stirred up and 
there is an attraction which causes the silver grains to 
gather together m little clumps or groups. These little 
groups or clumps are the grains which have been both¬ 
ering the miniature camera world so much. The prob- 


34 


lem, then, is to reduce all of the light-affected halide to 
metallic silver without the bunching or agglomerating of 
these particles into irregularly spaced and shaped large 
particles. 

The answer to this problem undoubtedly lies in the 
compounding of a developing formula which will re¬ 
duce all of the light-affected silver halide to metallic 
silver and yet will effectively prevent this clumping of 
the silver grains. So far, this problem remains unsolved 
although the world has been deluged with suggestions 
as to just how this can be accomplished. Most of these 
suggestions have come from amateur photographers. 
Photographic chemists have not offered anything new 
or startling in the past ten years. There appears to he a 
strange similarity between all of the formulas offered 
the miniature camera section of the photographing pub¬ 
lic. Some formulas offered give very fine grained images 
because they do not reduce all of the light-affected silver 
halide to metallic silver nor do they have the power to 
act upon slightly affected silver grains. To secure full 
shadow detail with these developers, it is necessary to 
increase the exposure to make up for this deficiency. 
These formulas are truly a hindrance to the advance¬ 
ment of photography because they do not allow full 
use to he made of the speed of modern lenses and film 
emulsions. It seems perfectly silly to have a camera 
with a shutter speed of 1/1000 of a second, a lens with 
an effective aperture of f/1.5, and an ultra-rapid film 
emulsion if we cannot utilize all of this speed. Chem¬ 
istry has not kept pace with the advances made by 
camera and film manufacturers. 

Other formulas offered have the ability to shave the 
silver grains during the process of development until 
they are microscopically small. This idea originated 
about fifteen years ago and was an outstanding contri¬ 
bution at that time. The shaving of the silver grains 
naturally leaves voids in between the grains and these 
voids are just as serious as the clumping itself. In mak- 


35 


ing an enlargement from any negative, we have to pro¬ 
ject light through the negative and if the spaces between 
the silver grain which make up the image are large and 
irregular, they will surely show as large, black dots in 
the finished prints. This type of developing formula 
may reduce all of the light-affected silver and then 
shave all of the grains to a very small size, yet prints 
from negatives developed in these solutions can be very 
coarse grained and very disappointing, notwithstanding 
the fact that the actual grain size in the negative is 
microscopically small. 

Now, a perfect fine grain developer should reduce all 
of the light-affected silver halide to metallic silver with¬ 
out allowing any movement of the silver grains within 
the gelatin. If the silver grains within the gelatin were 
not allowed to clump, there would he no problem what¬ 
soever because the original silver halide is probably 
finer than the finest reduced metallic silver. 

In compounding any developer we need, first, a reduc¬ 
ing agent. Chemical reducers are agents with an affinity 
for oxygen. They have the power to reduce the light- 
affected silver to metallic silver without affecting the sil¬ 
ver halide which has not been exposed to light. A re¬ 
ducing agent would have a very short life and be prob¬ 
ably worthless unless a preservative were added to the 
developing solution because it would become oxidized 
before it could do any work. Sodium sulphite is the 
chemical generally used in developers as a preservative 
because it has a very strong affinity for oxygen. Sodium 
sulphite is readily oxidized to sodium sulphate and in 
drawing the oxygen to itself, this chemical protects the 
reducing agent from oxidizing so readily. A developer 
must be able to penetrate all the gelatin and attack all 
of the silver in the emulsion. Developers originally 
were compounded with strong alkalis such as sodium 
carbonate, ammonia, acetone, or the hydroxides because 
these strong alkalis have the power to break down the 
gelatin structure and allow free access to the organic 


36 


chemical which has to do the reducing. This breakdown 
of the gelatin structure promotes the clumping of the 
silver grains into little groups. There is an actual at¬ 
traction between silver grains, and if the gelatin in 
which these grains are imbedded is allowed to break 
down, there will be a natural movement of the silver 
grains toward one another. Before the advent of the 
miniature camera, this graininess due to this clumping 
was of no consequence whatsoever. Developers contain¬ 
ing little or no free alkali do not have the power to 
break down the gelatin structure so completely and 
there is far less clumping of the silver grains. 

It may be well for us to consider here some of the 
developing formulas which have been brought out with 
the idea of reducing grain size before going into experi¬ 
ments which were conducted and first announced in 
Camera Craft in August, 1936. 

Sodium sulphite is the chemical generally used as a 
preservative in developers. Sodium sulphite oxidizes 
readily to sodium sulphate. This chemical can be used 
with water as a developer because it is an oxidizing 
agent. The concentration of sodium sulphite in such a 
developer must be near the saturation point. The reduc¬ 
tion of the silver halide to metallic silver is naturally 
a result of the oxidation process of the sodium sulphite. 
A silver image obtained by this means will be weak and 
flat and practically worthless because sodium sulphite 
does not have the power to give a marked differentia¬ 
tion between exposed and unexposed silver. If an ex¬ 
posed film is left in a saturated solution of sodium 
sulphite for an indefinite time, an image will be devel¬ 
oped, while if the film is left in this solution long 
enough, all of the silver will be dissolved out of the so¬ 
lution by the sodium sulphite. Sodium sulphite is a 
reducing agent but it is not sufficiently selective because 
it will attack the silver affected by light as well as that 
which was not affected by light. The action of sodium 
sulphite in its attack upon silver is to eat away slowly 


37 


at the edges of the silver until there is nothing left. This 
action is the basis for the high concentration of sodium 
sulphite in so many fine grain developers. Sodium sul¬ 
phite should be carbonate free; in other words, this 
chemical should be fairly pure and contain no free 
alkali. The addition of any alkali to a plain sodium 
sulphite solution will cause a heavy chemical fog. 

When metol is added to a high concentration of 
sodium sulphite, the reducing action of the metol is 
greatly accelerated. If one, two, or three grams per litre 
(15, 30, 45 grains per 32 ounces) is added to a ten per 
cent sodium sulphite solution, we will have a developer 
capable of reducing all of the light-affected silver in the 
emulsion. The silver grains will be shaved to a micro¬ 
scopic size by the normal action of the sodium sulphite, 
and the voids in between will be large and irregular. 
The resulting negatives will make full graduation, coarse 
grained prints. The action of these two chemicals will 
be greatly speeded by the addition of a mild akali such 
as sodium borate (borax). The quantity of sodium bor¬ 
ate used should be one or two grams per litre (15 to 30 
grains for 32 ounces). The life of such a developer will 
be rather short and after the first roll of film is devel¬ 
oped in it, it will be unstable. 

Another organic reducing agent, hydroquinone, is 
usually aded to sodium sulphite-metol-sodium borate 
developers. This chemical does little or no actual reduc¬ 
ing of the silver halide to metallic silver; it merely acts 
as a sort of buffer in the solution and also as a preserva¬ 
tive of the other chemicals. There is a slight decrease in 
the graininess of a negative when developed in a metol- 
sodium sulphite-borax developer to which has been 
added a small quantity of hydroquinone. The borax 
type of developers have much to recommend them for 
average use with large negatives. These developers keep 
well and because they reduce all of the light-affected 
silver in the emulsion, exposures need be no more than 
called for by a properly used electric photometer. A 


38 


good borax formula is the one advocated by the East¬ 
man Kodak Company, the D-76 formula: 


Elon (metol). 

Sodium Sulphite. 

Hydroquinone. 

Sodium Borate (borax) 
Water. 


Eastman D-76 


.29 grains 
3Y 2 ounces 
.72 grains 
29 grains 
.32 ounces 


2 grams 
100 grams 
5 grams 
2 grams 
1 litre 


This type of developer has many variations. Some 
advocates of borax developers believe that the borax 
should be increased and the sodium sulphite decreased. 
Such a formula was brought out by Wellington in Eng¬ 
land many years ago. Later the Eastman Company 
made an extensive series of experiments and increased 
the amount of borax in their formula D-76 and added 
boric acid also. This is known as the buffered borax 
negative developing formula D-76-d: 


Eastman D-76-d 


Elon (metol). 

.29 grains 

2 grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 3 j /2 ounces 

100 grams 

Hydroquinone. 

.72 grains 

5 grams 

Sodium Borate (borax). 

.120 grains 

8 grams 

Water. 

. 32 ounces 

1 litre 

Acid Boric, crystals. 

.120 grains 

8 grams 


The developing time of the D-76 formula is front nine to 
twelve minutes at 65° Fahrenheit, and these times apply 
also to the D-76-d formula. It is possible to vary the 
developing time by changing the ratio between the 
sodium borate and boric acid. If the boric acid is too 
high, the life of this developer will be seriously im¬ 
paired and the reduction ability likewise impaired. 
Sodium sulphite-metol-sodium borate formulas are not 
the answer to the fine grain developing problem con¬ 
fronting the miniature photographer. These developers 
do allow correct exposure, and for that reason they have 
an advantage over most of the fine grain formulas of¬ 
fered to miniature photographers. The grain structure 
of negatives developed in these formulas is too coarse 
for use in miniature camera work. 

Another school of thought advocated the use of 


39 













chemical reducing agent glycin in place of metol. Glycin 
makes crystal clear solutions which do not create so 
much turbulence in the emulsion during the process of 
development. Negatives developed with glycin as the 
reducing agent have somewhat finer grain than nega¬ 
tives developed with metol. Glycin is comparatively 
dormant in the neutral sulphite solution generally used 
in fine grain work and really requires an alkali to stim¬ 
ulate it to activity. The alkali generally used with gly¬ 
cin is potassium carbonate. In developers containing 
glycin, sodium sulphite and potassium carbonate, the 
amount of sodium sulphite should not exceed the 
amount of glycin in the developer. If the sodium sul¬ 
phite concentration is much higher than the glycin con¬ 
centration, there will be a distinct chemical fog formed 
in the emulsion. This fog materially affects the printing 
value of the negative. A developer can be made up as 
follows: 

Water.32 ounces 1 litre 

Sodium Sulphite. 6 grains .5 gram 

Glycin. 6 grains .5 gram 

Potassium Carbonate.15 grains 1.2 grams 

Developing time is three-quarters to one and one-half 
hours at 68° Fahrenheit. This developer will give nega¬ 
tives with a comparatively fine grain and great bril¬ 
liance. The grain size is no improvement over that given 
by the formula D-76-d. 

Some years ago paraphenylenediamine was brought 
to the attention of the photographic world because it 
gave very fine grained images when used in a highly 
concentrated sodium sulphite solution. This chemical, 
known to the fur-dyeing industry as Ursol D, gave a red¬ 
dish brown image upon the negative. The action of such 
a developer was semi-physical; in other words, there 
was a deposit upon the latent image in combination 
with the actual development of the latent image. The 
grain structure of negatives developed with this reduc¬ 
ing agent was so fine and so even that tremendous en¬ 
largements could be made without any troublesome 


40 






grain. Moreover, there was a velvety quality to the half 
tones. The great disadvantage of this developer, how¬ 
ever, was the enormous increase in exposure time nec¬ 
essary to produce correct shadow detail in the negative. 
Now, correct shadow detail in a negative is the criterion 
of its emulsion speed. If shadow detail is lacking, we 
can safely say that the film was under-exposed or that 
the developer did not reduce all of the silver halide to 
metallic silver. Paraphenylenediamine and sodium sul¬ 
phite require about five times more exposure than 
formula D-76 in order to affect the silver halide suf¬ 
ficiently so that it can be reduced to metallic silver. 
This was a disadvantage far outweighing the fine grain 
properties of the developer. Still another disadvantage 
of this developer was the irregularity of the results pro¬ 
duced by it. The keeping qualities of this developer were 
very poor. Paraphenylenediamine and sodium sulphite 
were, however, something entirely new in the way of 
fine grain developers and this fine grain developer was 
actually the first one which the amateurs could use with 
any degree of success. 

Paraphenylenediamine and sodium sulphite dissolve 
a large quantity of silver out of the negative. This silver 
is acted upon by the developer and naturally causes a 
breakdown of the developer. This is true even when 
other reducing agents are combined in the developer in 
order that its reducing power might be increased. For 
this reason there is a definite loss in developing power 
whenever a roll of film is developed. This loss in de¬ 
veloping power is in proportion to the area of film and 
the length of time the film is in the developer. These 
two factors are, naturally, very difficult to gauge with 
any accuracy and the developer is, therefore, unstable. 

When paraphenylenediamine - sulphite developers 
were first revived a few years ago, some workers advo¬ 
cated the addition to the developer of mild alkalis in 
order that the reducing action might be accelerated. 
Tri-basic sodium phosphate was added. The reducing 


41 


action was accelerated so that the emulsion speed was in¬ 
creased. The increase, however, was only 1.9 times the 
exposure required by formula D-76-d. This was hardly 
worth while because there was some increase in the 
grain structure and the emulsion speed was by no means 
normal. Still another addition was ammonium chloride. 
This chemical accelerated the reducing action more 
than tri-basic sodium phosphate. The use of ammonium 
chloride in developers is not new. This chemical has 
been used for at least twenty years. The effect of the 
ammonium chloride was more like a stronger alkali. 
This was due, of course, to the ammonia. These addi¬ 
tions to paraphenylenediamine and sulphite were not 
the answer to the fine grain and high emulsion speed 
problem. 

The addition of glycin to a paraphenylenediamine- 
sodium sulphite developer will have a stabilizing influ¬ 
ence upon that developer. The glycin is not used as a 
reducing agent; in this case it is actually a buffer and a 
preservative of the paraphenylenediamine. When used 
with glycin, paraphenylenediamine has a greatly in¬ 
creased reducing power and this naturally results in an 
increase in film speed over a plain paraphenylenedia- 
mine-sodium sulphite developer. The quantity of glycin 
can be varied to suit individual requirements. The 
amount of glycin usually incorporated with parapheny¬ 
lenediamine and sodium sulphite is from one-half to the 
full amount of paraphenylenediamine in that developer 
The best known formula of this type is the Sease No. 3 
formula: 

Sease #3 

Water. 32 ounces 1 litre 

Paraphenylenediamine.146 grains 10 grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 3 ounces 90 grams 

Glycin. 88 grains 6 grams 

The emulsion speed of this developer is less than 
normal; in other words, this developer requires an ex¬ 
posure of 2.8 times that required by the D-76-d formula. 
The D-76-d formula can be taken as an indication of a 


42 







Photomicrograph of DuPont Superior film developed in Sease #3, 
X1000. 


Courtesy DuPont Laboratories, Parlin, N. J. 


correct normal exposure. From this we can see that the 
Sease No. 3 formula is a developer which does not re¬ 
duce all of the light-affected silver halide to metallic 
silver. The grain structure created by this developer, 
however, is very even and very satisfactory. The addi¬ 
tional exposure required is very unsatisfactory because 
over-exposure with modern ultra-rapid panchromatic 
emulsions will result in poor tone quality. Whenever 
more than normal exposure is given an ultra-rapid 
emulsion, there will be a definite loss of quality in the 
highlights and throughout the whole tone range. This 
lack of quality is very real and it is a distinct disadvan¬ 
tage because it will eliminate that certain pearly lustre 
which should be a feature of a good print from a per¬ 
fectly exposed and developed negative. The density of 


43 





Photomicrograph of DuPont Superior film developed in D-76, 
XI000. 


Courtesy DuPont Laboratories, Parlin, N. J. 


negatives developed in the Sease #3 formula is very 
deceiving because the color imparted by the para- 
phenylenadiamine has a greater printing value than 
appears to the eye. For this reason negatives devel¬ 
oped in a Sease #3 formula should appear to be much 
thinner or more delicate than negatives developed in 
the formula D-76-d. 

The addition of metol to a paraphenyenediamine- 
glycin-sodiuin sulphite developer will greatly increase 
the film speed of that developer. The addition of the 
metol is, however, of doubtful value because there are 
certain disadvantages with the use of this chemical. The 
action of metol in this type of developer will be very 
similar to the action of metol when used with sodium 
sulphite alone. The silver grains in the emulsion will 


44 





Photomicrograph of DuPont Superior film developed in Champlin 
#15, X1000. Note uniformity of grain structure. 

Courtesy DuPont Laboratories, Parlin, N. J. 


be shaved to a microscopic size. This shaving of the 
silver grains will leave large and irregular voids in 
between the grains and there will be a noticeable 
grain in the finished print. This action will, of course, 
be tempered somewhat with the paraphenylenediamine 
and glycin so that the effect of the grain structure will 
not be quite as coarse as if these chemicals were not 
present. Film speed will be increased by the metol. 
Negatives developed in a Sease #3 formula to which 
has been added two grams of metol per litre (30 
grains: 32 ounces) will require 1.6 times the exposure 
necessary with the D-76-d developer. This difference 
in film speed is so slight as to be scarcely noticeable 
except in candid camera work. The action of this devel¬ 
oper is splendid until the metol is exhausted. This 


45 



dissipation of the metol cannot be accurately gauged 
and after it takes place, all of the good features of the 
combination are lost. Negatives will then lack proper 
tone gradation and shadow detail, while the highlights 
will he hard and almost unprintable. 

A few years ago minicams were deluged with a lot of 
fine grain developers about which many extravagant 
claims were made. Every camera shop had its own pet 
developer put up in either a brown or blue bottle and a 
thriving business was done by those firms who put up 
their pet formula in cans. The salesman behind the 
counters led the man with the little camera to believe 
that the contents of this bottle or that particular can 
would solve all of his photographic problems. An 
analysis of all these developers showed that they were 
ordinary paraphenylenediamine-glycin developers to 
which had been added one, two, three, or four grams of 
metol per litre. The only real feature which the differ¬ 
ent manufacturers could possibly crow about was the 
fact that their developer contained more or less metol, 
although actually the secret formula of the developer 
was something never to be divulged. Not one of these 
manufacturers really offered anything except an unbe¬ 
lievable line of extravagant claims. 

The only way to use a paraphenylenediainine-glycin- 
metol developer with any assurance of perfect, uniform 
results is to develop only one roll of film in it and then 
pour it down the sink. Too many fine grain developing 
specialists use this type of developer long after the 
metol is exhausted and this false economy of their’s re¬ 
sults in mile after mile of worthless negatives. 

The results obtained from paraphenylenediamine- 
glycin-metol developers after a few rolls have passed 
through the solution gave rise to the belief that para- 
phenylenediamine should not be used as a developer. 
This belief has been pounced upon by the advocates of 
the metol-hydroquinone-borax wing of the miniature 
camera section of the photographic world and used as a 
basis for the condemnation of this chemical. Gentlemen 


46 


all over the world have given their ideas and theories 
about just how the metol-hydroquinone-borax developer 
should be used and why it is so much better than 
paraphenylenediamine. All of this information ad¬ 
vanced for our special benefit simmers down to the 
whole idea that a slight increase in exposure and a 
slight decrease in developing time will give very nice 
negatives with a comparatively fine grain. Actually, the 
grain size obtained by this method will be slightly less 
with fine grain films and slightly larger with ultra-rapid 
films, and is scarcely worth all the trouble involved. The 
greatest disadvantage to this continually proposed 
method of procedure is its effect upon high speed 
photography. Over-exposure and under-development 
of an ultra-rapid film emulsion will result in a flatness 
which no contrast printing paper can correct. Modern 
ultra-rapid emulsions require a minimum exposure and 
full development. There is no latitude in this respect. 
Then, too, over-exposure with ultra-rapid emulsions has 
a tendency to increase grain size somewhat because 
when light strikes a particle of silver salt in the emul¬ 
sion, this light-affected silver particle infects all of the 
surrounding particles of silver salt. If we increase an 
exposure, we naturally increase this deflection of light 
so that more surrounding particles are affected. It fol¬ 
lows then that in the process of development more 
silver grains will he whirled into little clumps and this 
agglomeration will naturally affect the finished print. 
Over-exposure, then, is to be avoided and any developer 
requiring more than a normal exposure is definitely not 
worth considering. It is, in fact, a hindrance to the 
advancement of miniature photography. 


47 


CHAPTER FIVE 


Developing Developers 


From the foregoing chapter it should be clear that 
the development of a miniature negative is a problem 
which can be divided into two parts: part one is a search 
for a fine and even grain structure, and part two is a 
search for a developer which will combine this fineness 
of grain structure with high emulsion speed. 

Now, grain size is no problem because a straight 
paraphenylenediamine-sodium sulphite developer will 
reduce the silver halide to metallic silver without allow¬ 
ing troublesome agglomeration which results in a coarse 
grain structure. It is also possible to process negatives 
by the system advocated by Dr. Odell and known as 
physical development. Physical development consists of 
depositing silver upon the latent image formed by light 
in the silver salts in the emulsion. Physical development 
of negatives is nothing new and had been almost for¬ 
gotten until revived by Dr. Odell. Results obtained by 
this process are very erratic and actually no finer 
grained than the structure created by a straight para- 
phenylenediamine - sodium sulphite developer. The 
problem confronting us is to combine this ultra-fine 
grain structure with normal emulsion speed. 

Many claims have been made that this developer or 
that developer should he used for normal exposures. 


48 


Kobe Twilight” 


H. Frederickson 


Developed in Champlin #5 


“The modern photographer, amateur or professional, has so many- 
perfected mechanical devices, different films, grades and kinds of 
papers and such varied fine grain developers with which to work 
that the thrill of experimenting need never cease in a lifetime. 
There is always a new effect to attain, a new combination to try, or 
a different technique to master. In short, photography today is an 
endless adventure.” 

—Hansena Frederickson 


We should take as a standard of exposure time the East¬ 
man formula D-76-d, compounded with metol, hydro- 
quinone, sodium sulphite, and borax, because this 
developer will give a normal negative with an exposure 
calculated by a properly used photometer set in accord¬ 
ance with the meter manufacturers’ speed rating. 













Tests have been made with most ol the so-called 
normal exposure fine grain developing formulas in 
comparison with the density and shadow detail given 
by a properly used D-76 developer. The results were 
very interesting and showed that the normal exposure 
claims for these developers were somewhat exaggerated. 
Fine grain developing is comparatively new and so little 
is known about it that the average worker cannot 
standardize on a good fine grain normal speed develop¬ 
ing formula because there does not seem to he any such 
formula. 

Experiments were conducted in an effort to find a 
developer capable of giving negatives with both fine 
grain and high emulsion speed. This combination, of 
course, is the goal of all photographic chemists. These 
experiments, conducted by this writer and a group of 
friends, were first conducted upon all of the ordinary 
chemicals used in photography. These chemicals were 
combined with paraphenylenediamine and sulphite 
alone and with paraphenylenediamine, glycin, and sul¬ 
phite. Experiments were made also with developers 
containing a high concentration of sodium sulphite and 
a small quantity of metol to which was added a little 
carbonate. The possibility of other mild alkalis than 
borax was investigated. These experiments showed that 
so far as fine grain was concerned, paraphenylenedia¬ 
mine was the supreme reducing agent. 

The addition of sodium bisulphite gave slightly better 
shadow detail and extensive experiments were made 
with this chemical to determine whether or not it should 
he incorporated in the developer. Two grams per litre 
(1 grain per ounce) of sodium bisulphite showed a 
slight improvement in film speed, while ninety grams per 
litre had a marked restraining effect upon the dense 
portions of the negative, and this allowed prolonged 
development to bring out the weaker portions of the 
negative. The grain of negatives developed in a solu¬ 
tion containing a high concentration of sodium bisul- 


50 



Arkell Burnap 

Panatomic Filmpack, developed in Champlin #15 

“The average photographer, both amateur and professional, has 
heretofore had to combine with his ideas of pictorialism a certain 
amount of technical knowledge of chemistry and chemical reac¬ 
tions. The net result of this is that many a pictorialist is lost to the 
world because he goes off on a tangent of formulas and processing 
to such an extent that he loses sight of his real objective. This book 
of Mr. Champlin s is so thorough, so complete, and so detailed in 
information that one’s mind is fully at rest regarding steps after the 
picture is on the film emulsion. We can spend all our time thinking 
of the picture we want with the full knowledge that the rest of the 
job is purely mechanical. For the first time I feel that now I can 
think of the picture and not the process.” —Arkell Burnap 


51 





phite was as fine as with a straight paraphenylenedia- 
mine-sodium sulphite developer, and while the film 
speed was increased to almost normal, this was a definite 
advance over the paraphenylenediamine-glycin devel¬ 
opers to which was added some metol. The negatives 
had a much nicer brilliance with full detail in the 
shadows and a true velvety quality in the highlights, and 
were superior in tone value to a paraphenylenediamine- 
glycin-metol developer. The great disadvantage of the 
addition of sodium bisulphite was the instability of the 
solution. This developer, while giving much finer 
grained images and much more shadow detail than the 
so-called normal developers on the market at that time, 
was actually no more stable than those developers, and 
therefore not worth considering. One roll of film was 
sufficient to cause a heavy silver sludge to form upon the 
sides of the container, and this silver sludge naturally 
had a powerful influence upon the life of the developer. 
Tests with sodium bisulphite showed that acidifying 
paraphenylenediamine was really worth investigating. 

The addition of other acids with more of a preserving 
action upon organic reducing chemicals was incorporated 
in a whole series of paraphenylenediamine-glycin-so- 
dium sulphite developers. Lactic acid has often been 
used as a preservative of short lived organic reducing 
agents. This chemical has long been recommended as a 
preservative in amidol developers. Lactic acid was used 
in varying amounts with an ordinary Sease #3 formula. 
A slight improvement in the appearance of the devel¬ 
oped image was noted. It was not enough of an improve¬ 
ment to warrant shouting about, but it did show that we 
were definitely upon the right track. Resorcin also was 
tried. This chemical is a phenol product and it exerted 
more of a preserving action upon the organic chemicals 
than did the lactic acid. The use of resorcin in fine grain 
developing solutions is by no means new; in fact, its 
use was advocated some years ago in combination with 
metol, hydroquinone, and borax. The formula was as 
follows: 


52 


Metol. 

.15 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 1 

Hydroquinone. 

.23 

Resorcin. 

.15 

Sodium Borate (borox).... 

.15 

Water. 

. 20 


grains 1 gram 

ounces 50 grams 

grains 1.5 grams 

grains 1 gram 

grains 1 gram 

ounces 625 ccs 


Developing time: eight minutes at 65° Fahrenheit. The 
amount of resorcin recommended for use in any fine 
grain developer is one and one-half grams per litre (22 
grains per 32 ounces). 

A search into the possibilities of other benzine ring 
compounds led to salicylic acid. This chemical was in¬ 
corporated in the developer in the amount of one gram 
per litre. Negatives developed in a solution containing 
a small amount of salicylic acid were far too dense and 
had too much contrast, indicating that there was a 
speeding up of the developing time. The developer was 
diluted with water and it was found that the same quan¬ 
tity of chemicals in an ordinary paraphenylenediamine- 
glycin developer could be diluted with as much as six¬ 
teen parts of water if salicylic acid were present in the 
developer. The preserving power of this chemical was 
then tremendous. In addition to this preserving power 
upon the organic reducing agents, salicylic acid had a 
marked softening effect upon the gelatin. Salicylic acid 
will soften almost anything and is, in fact, the basis of a 
great many corn cures. The softening effect upon gelatin 
is very similar to the effect of an alkali on gelatin in the 
process of development. If the gelatin is softened, the 
organic reducers will be able to penetrate easily and 
reduce all of the light-affected silver in the gelatin. The 
softening effect of salicylic acid was ideal because it 
really did a thorough job. It was a vast improvement 
over any of the alkalis usually recommended because 
it was actually a preserver and not a destroyer of the 
other chemicals in the solution. The great disadvantage 
of this chemical was the possibility that it might soften 
the gelatin too much and thereby cause serious reticula¬ 
tion. In the dilute form of the developer containing this 


53 








chemical, this softening possibility was not so very great 
because there was not enough salicylic acid in the 
developer to cause much trouble unless the temperature 


was increased to 72° Fahrenheit. 

Now, the temperature of any developer is of much 
more importance than is generally supposed. Metol is 
one chemical with much the same action regardless of 
temperature. Glycin, on the other hand, works best at 
temperatures about 70° Fahrenheit. Below 65° Fahren¬ 
heit, glycin becomes somewhat dormant, and below 62° 
Fahrenheit, its action ceases almost entirely. Para- 
phenylenediamine is another chemical working best at 
higher temperatures and is identical with glycin in this 
respect. At 73-74° Fahrenheit, both paraphenylenedia- 
mine and glycin are at their best, each exerting a maxi¬ 
mum energy and working in perfect harmony. 

The temperature of a dilute developer containing 
salicylic acid could not be raised to the very advan¬ 
tageous 73-74° Fahrenheit so that the glycin and para- 
phenylenediamine could work most efficiently because 
there was the ever present possibility of reticulation of 
the gelatin. This is a serious menace. If the temperature 
was maintained at about 70° Fahrenheit and the devel¬ 
oper agitated continuously, perfect negatives would re¬ 
sult. The addition of a small quantity of sodium bisul¬ 
phite was found to be of some value in restraining the 
swelling effect of the gelatin. The formula used with 
these chemicals is as follows: 


Champlin #5 


Sodium Sulphite. % ounces 

Acid Salicyclic... 4 grains 

Sodium Bisulphite. 8 grains 

Paraphenylenediamine.59 grains 

Glycin. 59 grains 

Water. 8 ounces 


22.5 grams 
.3 gram 
.5 gram 
4 grams 
4 grams 
250 ccs 


For use take one part of the above stock solution and 
fifteen parts of water. Developing time: thirty-five min¬ 
utes at 73° Fahrenheit with continuous agitation. 

The emulsion speed of this developer requires an ex¬ 
posure of 1.8 times that required for a D-76-d developer. 
The grain size is a little finer than that given by the 


54 








Sease #3 formula. This was an advance because emul¬ 
sion speed had been increased from 2.8 times normal to 
1.8 times normal without any sacrifice in the fineness of 
the grain structure. This developer was highly success¬ 
ful with those workers who realized that 70° Fahrenheit 
and continuous agitation really meant something and 
were instructions which had to be followed. The effect 
of this developer can truly be termed physico-chemical. 
There will be a noticeable silver precipitate. The break¬ 
down of the developer is overcome completely by mak¬ 
ing a stock solution as above and diluting one ounce of 
the stock solution with fifteen ounces of water. This 
forms a working solution which is sufficient for one roll 
of film and will be enough for most of the miniature 
tanks on the market today. The working solution should 
be used only once and then discarded. The stock solu¬ 
tion has been kept in a clear bottle and in a light room 
without any worry as to whether or not the stopper was 
on the bottle, and after two years there was no deteriora¬ 
tion in the developing power of the solution. It is 
possible also to make this developer in powder form, 
mixing all of the ingredients together and then storing 
them in air-tight containers. There will be a slow fusion 
of all of the chemicals and in time there will be a break¬ 
down of these chemicals due to this fusion and to 
oxidation. 

It may be well to mention here that the practice of 
mixing chemicals together so that they will he aged en 
masse is really not a good one because most of the 
chemicals used in photography have their own par¬ 
ticular work to do, and this work commences immedi¬ 
ately when they are mixed in either the dry form or 
with water. Some manufacturers have made great claims 
about pre-aging hut this practice is really not a good one. 

The addition of a small quantity of metol to the #5 
developer gave an increase to this developer’s emulsion 
speed. The keeping qualities of the stock solution with 
the metol were very good. There was a considerable 
increase in grain size due to the presence of the metol. 


55 


The developer incorporating the inetol was as follows: 


Sodium Sulphite. 

Champlin #6 

. % 

ounce 

22.5 grams 

Acid Salicylic. 

. 4 

grains 

.3 gram 

Sodium Bisulphite. 

. 8 

grains 

.5 gram 

Paraphenylenediamine.. 

.59 

grains 

4 grams 

Glycin. 

.59 

grains 

4 grams 

Water. 

. 8 

ounces 

250 ccs 

Metol. 

.15 

grains 

1 gram 


For use, take one part of the above and fifteen parts of 
water. Developing time: thirty minutes at 70° Fahren¬ 
heit with continuous agitation. The grain structure of 
this developer will be more like the grain structure of 
an ordinary paraphenylenediamine-glycin-sodium sul¬ 
phite developer to which has been added some metol. 
This, then, is no great advantage because the difference 
in emulsion speed is only the difference between 1.8 and 
1.4 times normal. This difference is not enough of an 
advantage to compensate for the coarsening of the grain 
structure. 

The amount of agitation given any negative during 
the process of development in any developer has a 
marked influence upon the developing time required for 
normal contrast. If the negatives are agitated contin¬ 
uously during the process of development, there will be 
as much as twenty per cent decrease in the time required 
to develop them to normal contrast. Moreover, there 
will be much less likelihood of streaks from the sprocket 
holes of 35 mm films and from the denser portions of all 
negatives when the developer is agitated continuously. 
These faults will likely occur when negatives are not 
agitated during development. Agitation will also rid 
the surface of the emulsion of any air-bells or bubbles 
which may form due to the release of air from the 
emulsion in solution. These bubbles prevent the devel¬ 
oper from acting upon the film directly behind them, 
and when the film is fixed out, there might be little clear 
spots which will be unsightly in the finished print. 

Salicylic acid was a valuable addition to the developer 
and a search was made for a companion chemical which 


56 










“Harbor Scene ” Harry Champlin 

Contax; 85 mm. Triotar F:4; 1/100 sec. at F:16, with Zeiss 
1.8x yellow-green filter; Agfa Super pan, developed in Champlin 
#7. 


would counteract the softening effect of this chemical 
at temperatures around 73° Fahrenheit. Benzoic acid 
was tried and finally selected because this chemical too 
was of the benzine ring compounds and was, therefore, 
compatible with all the other phenol chemicals in the 
developer. Benzoic acid is, like salicylic acid, a preser¬ 
vative of phenol reducing agents and is, in addition, a 
restrainer of these reducing agents. The restraining 
action of benzoic acid is over the whole negative. It is 
not selective like potassium bromide which acts only 
upon the weaker deposits of the negative and one of the 
effects of this chemical is to delay or prolong develop¬ 
ment time. Chemical fog, which is usually present 


57 


















whenever highly concentrated sodium sulphite solu¬ 
tions are used, is reduced by benzoic acid. 

When benzoic acid was added in very small quantities 
to the developing solution, it was found that the restrain¬ 
ing power of this chemical prohibited very dilute solu¬ 
tions such as were allowed by formulas #5 and #6. It 
was also found that this chemical delayed swelling of 
the gelatin for a short period so that it was possible to 
develop films at the advantageous temperature of 73-74° 
Fahrenheit without the reticulation which might result 
if this chemical were not in the developer. The effect 
of any hardening agent in a developing solution is to 
delay swelling for a definite period and if the gelatin is 
left in water or developing solutions for longer than this 
period, the effect will wear off and swelling will take 
place. Benzoic acid delayed swelling for a period equal 
to the normal developing time of the solution. This 
action of the benzoic acid did not eliminate the need 
for a hardening bath after development was completed. 

If more than one and one-half grams of benzoic acid 
is added to a litre of developer (22 grains per 32 
ounces), the retarding or restraining effect of this 
chemical will he so great that the developing time will 
be prolonged beyond all reason and there is a possibility 
that reticulation might set in. This possibility arises 
from the fact that the prolongation of the developing 
time will be beyond the limits set by the hardening 
action of the benzoic acid and the gelatin structure will 
then be subject to the softening influence of the salicylic 
acid. 

The benzoic acid made the sodium bisulphite super¬ 
fluous and this last chemical was eliminated. This 
elimination of the sodium bisulphite was desirable prin¬ 
cipally because by leaving it out, we leave out one 
chemical which is not a member of the benzine ring 
and which has, therefore, nothing in common with the 
chemicals of that origin. 

The addition of still another chemical was desirable 
because the balance between alkalinity and acidity of 


58 





Will Connell 

Developed in Champlin #7 


the solution was very delicate and had to be maintained. 
Boric acid is usually added to a developer when a buffer 
is required, and it is excellent for this purpose. The 
quantity of boric acid should be about two grams per 
litre (1 grain per ounce). If we increase the percentage 
of boric acid beyond certain limits, there will be a 
decided increase in the time required to develop a 
normal negative to correct contrast, and if the concen¬ 
tration of boric acid is too high, this chemical will act as 
a complete stop bath and no development will take 
place. 


59 


The presence of so many acids in the developer 
brought the alkalinity down to a pH of 7.15 or almost 
neutral. This was something different from the average 
photographic chemist’s conception of a developer. The 
average photographic chemist will argue that when the 
alkalinity of a developer is lowered towards the neutral 
point, the emulsion speed of the developer will suffer. 
In bringing the alkalinity down to almost the neutral 
point of pH 7.0, there was an actual increase in the 
emulsion speed of the solution. 

The concentration of paraphenylenediamine and 
glycin was higher than is usually recommended in fine 
grain developing. Tests showed that these two reducing 
agents and the acids and other chemicals gave negatives 
with a certain lack of shadow detail which meant that 
the negatives were not fully balanced. The addition of 
either metol or amidol was deemed necessary in order 
that full shadow detail could be recorded in the process 
of the reduction of silver halide to metallic silver. 
Amidol was far superior for the purpose, hut it is a 
chemical with a very short life when dissolved in the 
presence of sodium sulphite. Metol is probably more 
satisfactory for general use because it will have a long 
life, and just enough metol must be added to do the 
work required and no more. About two grams of metol 
per litre (1 grain per ounce) should be added. The 


developer should he made up 

as 

follows: 


Champlin 

Water. 

#7 

.20 

ounces 

1000 ccs 

Metol. 

.25 

grains 

2.5 grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 1 

ounce 

45 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 

.. 9 

grains 

1 gram 

Acid Salicylic. 

.. 4 

grains 

0.5 gram 

Acid Boric. 

.25 

grains 

2.5 grams 

Glycin. 

ounce 

11.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

*4 ounce 

11.5 grams 


This developer should be used at full strength and the 
first roll should be developed at 70° Fahrenheit. The 
second roll should he developed at 73° Fahrenheit and 
each succeeding roll requires an additional two minutes 
developing time for full contrast. Developing time for 


60 










Eastman Super-X and DuPont Superior 35 mm films is 
nineteen and one-half minutes.* 

The first roll developed will have considerably more 
grain than will subsequent rolls. This is because the 
metol and the other chemicals in this solution are in 
their strongest state and create a tremendous turbulence 
within the emulsion in the process of development. This 
effect is tempered by the first roll of film developed in 
the solution and all other rolls will have a slightly better 
and more delicate tonal range. Some workers have 
advocated a reduction of about twenty per cent in the 
developing time for the first roll and claim that this 
reduction will eliminate these differences in grain size. 
Tests have proved that the developing time given for 
this formula are correct. Other workers have exposed a 
roll of film to light and then dropped it in the developer 
to temper it. This practice is not worthwhile as the 
grain size is still small enough and is, in fact, smaller 
than that given by the average fine grain developer. 

There is an idea existing in the minds of some workers 
that the incorporation of silver in the developer will 
improve that developer. This practice is to he strongly 
discouraged because silver in a developer causes a real 
breakdown of the chemicals in that developer. Pure 
silver nitrate is not the same as the double silver bro¬ 
mide salt which is dissolved out of the developer. This 
silver bromide salt is a combination of silver nitrate and 
either potassium or ammonium bromide. These two 
chemicals when mixed, form a precipitate and this pre¬ 
cipitate is the silver bromide which is the light-sensitive 
silver salt in the emulsion. If you add bromide to any 
developer, there will be a restraining effect upon the 
weaker portions of the negative. This restraining effect 
will surely result in a loss of shadow detail. This loss of 
shadow detail is a very serious matter with parapheny- 
lenediamine-glycin-sulphite developers and can com- 


*'Peveloping times for a full list of films are given in Appendixes A and B. 


61 



pletely counteract the effect of the addition of metol to 
the developer. If you take a freshly mixed para- 
phenylenediamine - glycin - sulphite developer and drop 
into it a few crystals of silver nitrate, you will see that 
these silver nitrate crystals are immediately converted to 
a fine black sediment which will sink at once to the bot¬ 
tom of the bottle. The reducing agents have seized upon 
the silver nitrate and have converted it to metallic silver. 
In so doing, the reducing agents have exerted a certain 
proportion of their potential strength upon it. The 
silver nitrate is an oxidizing agent and the developer 
is a reducing agent. All that happens is that silver metal 
is formed and the developer is used up. The developer 
is now no longer as strong nor does it have the reduction 
potential as when freshly mixed. For this reason, silver 
loading, sometimes termed pre-ageing and sometimes 
given other fanciful terms, is of doubtful value. 

Negatives developed in formula #7 will show a vast 
improvement in film speed over the so-called normal 
exposure fine grain developers; in fact, this developer 
can be used for exposures for from one-half to a full 
stop less than usually called for by modern film emul¬ 
sions. Modern high speed lenses and ultra-rapid film 
emulsions can be used to fullest advantage with this 
developer, and while the formula is not intended as the 
ultimate in developers, it is a distinct advance over any 
of the formulas published prior to its appearance in 
Camera Craft in August, 1936. 

The amount of sodium sulphite in this developer is 
less than is usually recommended with paraphenylene- 
diamine. This was found by actual tests to give addi¬ 
tional emulsion speed and is one of the reasons why this 
formula #7 had more emulsion speed than other devel¬ 
opers. Sodium sulphite is necessary in a developer be¬ 
cause it is a preservative of the reducing agents in that 
developer. Its action is to oxidize to sodium sulphate 
and in so doing, to preserve the organic substances from 
attack by oxygen in the water and air. Now, if the con- 


62 


1 James Guthrie 


Courtesy Time, Inc., and Life 


Paul Dorsey 


Contax; 50 mm. Sonnar F: 1.5; developed in Champlin #9. 

(i The Champlin #15 formula fills a long felt need in newspaper 
work.” 


Paul Dorsey 




centration of sodium sulphite is too high, so much 
oxygen will be absorbed by this process that there will 
be little left for the reducing agents and developing 
time will be prolonged. Most of the fine grain formulas 
offered to the miniature camera world contain entirely 
too much sodium sulphite, and this fact accounts for the 
increase in exposure time necessary to secure perfectly 
graded negatives. This fact also accounts for the pro¬ 
longed development time of most fine grain developers. 
The increase in exposure time is necessitated by the 
solvent action of the sodium sulphite upon the silver in 
the emulsion. The more sulphite there is in the devel¬ 
oper, the more silver there will be dissolved out of the 
film emulsion, and this loading of the developer with 
silver will cause a natural breakdown of the developer, 
resulting in a loss of reducing power. 

The average fine grain formula calls for from ninety 
to one hundred grams of sodium sulphite per litre of 
developer (3-3 x /2 ounces per 32 ounces). A reduction to 
one-half of this amount will result in a definite increase 
in emulsion speed. This is true with almost all of the 
fine grain formulas which have been brought out during 
the past ten years. The high concentration of para- 
plienylenediamine and glycin in formula #7 is far above 
the average, and this, too, results in a greater reduction 
of light-affected silver halide to metallic silver. Indeed, 
this action is greater than that of almost any other 
developer. The emulsion speed of formula #7 can only 
be realized if the temperature is at 70° Fahrenheit or 
higher. Below this temperature the paraphenylenedia- 
mine and glycin become somewhat dormant, whereas at 
62° Fahrenheit these chemicals almost cease to function. 
At the higher temperatures all of the components of the 
developer are exerting a maximum energy and efficiency, 
and this, too, accounts for the high emulsion speed of 
this developer. 

The success of formula #7 spurred on the work of 
experimentation, and the ideas incorporated in that 
developer were used as a basis from which to work. 


64 


Formula #7 contains a small quantity of metol. The 
metol was used to give a small margin of shadow detail 
and this is as it should be. However, metol and para- 
phenylenediamine are not a compatible pair of chem¬ 
icals for fine grain work. Metol is a very energetic 
reducing agent. Paraphenylenediamine is slow working 
and so mild that the grain structure of the negative is 
not greatly affected. Glycin is a buffer and is used to 
take care of the paraphenylenediamine. Metol, when 
combined with paraphenylenediamine, still retains its 
energy and has a tendency to upset the fine grain work 
done by the paraphenylenediamine. Metol is therefore 
somewhat of a necessary evil and its elimination was 
greatly desired. A substitute for metol was sought. 

Pyrogallic acid is a reducing agent with a reduction 
potential as great as that of metol; in other words, 
metol can be counted upon to reduce a maximum 
amount of silver halide to metallic silver and pyro has 
this same characteristic. Pyro will give much greater 
delicacy in the separation of tones. A reducing agent 
with a maximum reduction ability is absolutely neces¬ 
sary if correct shadow detail is to be obtained in a 
negative. 

This can be produced in a negative if we are willing 
to sacrifice fine grain. Developers containing metol, 
hydroquinone, sodium sulphite, and borax will give full 
shadow detail but the grain size will be far too large. 
Formula #7 will also give full shadow detail and the 
grain size will be very satisfactory. Ordinary formulas 
containing paraphenylenediamine, glycin, sodium sul¬ 
phite and metol will require about 1.4 times normal 
exposure and will give a slightly coarser grain size. The 
grain structure of formula #7 will not be as fine as the 
grain structure of a negative developed in a straight 
paraphenylenediamine-sodium sulphite developer or in 
the #5 formula, although it is actually better than that 
produced by most of the fine grain formulas offered 
today. A Paraphenylenediamine-sodium sulphite devel- 


65 


oper, while giving extremely fine grain, cannot really be 
considered because the additional exposure required 
with this developer is beyond reason. Fine grain and 
high emulsion speed can be combined in one developer. 
This fact was definitely proved by formula #7 because 
with this developer emulsion speed could actually be 
increased over the manufacturers’ recommendations. 
The grain structure was a decided improvement over the 
grain structure created by the sodium sulphite-borax 
type of developers. It was an improvement also over 
the paraphenylenediamine-glycin-sodiuin sulphite-metol 
developers. This formula was something new both in 
composition and recommended temperature. It was new 
also in the fact that it ignored the old idea that high 
alkalinity and high emulsion speed went hand in hand. 
The metol in the developer was the one chemical 
capable of producing an upset in the fine grain structure 
and this fact accounts for the experiments with pyro. 

The image given by metol is a neutral gray-black. 
The image given by pyrogallic acid is more of a yellow¬ 
ish-black because there is a certain amount of yellow 
stain in a pyro developed negative. The actual amount 
of yellow stain in a pyro developed negative is in inverse 
proportion to the amount of sodium sulphite in the 
developer. In other words, if the sodium sulphite con¬ 
centration in a pyro developer is low, the resulting stain 
will he very heavy, whereas if the concentration of 
sodium sulphite is high, there will be very little stain. 
This stain-giving property of pyro was one of its prime 
assets in the early days of photography because the 
stain gave a print with a perfect range of tones from 
black to white. For those unfamiliar with the action of 
pyro, it may be well to explain that the stain is in 
direct proportion to the amount of light-affected silver 
in the emulsion, being heaviest in the dense portions 
and graduating down to an almost colorless deposit in 
the finest portions of the negative. Some years ago pyro 
advocates used this developer with a very small quantity 
of sodium sulphite. This practice gave a yellowish 


66 



Harry Champlin 


Contax; 85 mm. Sonnar F:2; l/50th sec. at F:16, on Agfa Super¬ 
pan; developed in Champlin #9. 


67 





stained image in place of the ordinary black image 
which we are accustomed to see in a negative. This stain 
had an excellent printing value with a far longer tone 
scale than is usual with other reducing agents. The 
actual metallic silver image was then bleached out, leav¬ 
ing nothing but the stained image, and since the stain 
had a comparatively small grain structure, the resulting 
image was delicate and exceedingly fine. This practice 
was excellent but it had one fault—the stain was almost 
impossible to control. Then, too, the stained image was 
too delicate and had to be projected onto a contrast 
paper. Modern high sulphite content developers prevent 
the heavy stain which is the outstanding feature of a 
pyro developer. There is some stain, however, when 
pyro is used in the developer and this fact led to a series 
of experiments with this chemical. The metol was 
eliminated from the #7 formula and a like amount of 
pyro substituted for it. To make up for the large quan¬ 
tity of sulphite in the solution, it was necessary to in¬ 
crease the pyro because a normal quantity had prac¬ 
tically no effect. The amount of pyro was increased to 
the extent that the sodium sulphite-pyro balance was 
about the same as the balance in an ordinary low sul- 


phite pyro developer, 
was as follows: 

A developer of this composition 

Champlin #8 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 3 j /2 ounces 

100 grams 

Pyro. 


34.5 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 

.36 grains 

2.4 grams 

Acid Salicylic. 


1 gram 

Acid Boric. 


7.5 grams 

Glycin. 


34.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine.... 

. % ounce 

34.5 grams 

Water. 


2 litres 


This developer had a tendency to frill the edges of the 
negatives at 73-74° Fahrenheit. This temperature was 
found by test to he the most desirable because it gave 
nicely stained images with full emulsion speed and a 
very satisfactory grain structure. Because of the ten¬ 
dency towards too much softening of the gelatin, it was 
deemed advisable to incorporate a more drastic hardener 


68 










than one giving the effect produced by the benzoic acid. 
Sodium sulphate was selected as a hardener because this 
chemical is inert photographically and will not change 
or affect the action of the other chemicals in the devel¬ 
oper. The amount of sodium sulphate added to the 
formula #8 was fifty grams per litre (1 1 / 2 ounces per 32 
ounces) of the anhydrous form of the chemical. The 
effect of the sodium sulphate was to delay swelling of 
the gelatin for a period considerably longer than that 
of the benzoic acid. 

With all of these chemicals in the solution, it became 
necessary to add still another to keep them in solution. 
The most suitable chemical for this purpose was an 
alcohol. Many alcohols were tried and many were found 
suitable, hut iso propyl alcohol 97% was selected be¬ 
cause of its ability to dissolve almost anything. It does 
smell to high heaven, hut it does do a thorough job, and 
it will keep the chemicals in solution. In fact, this 
developer will keep the anti-halation gray coatings of 
gray back 35 mm films in solution after they have been 
dissolved out of the emulsion. The developer with these 
two additions was as follows: 


Champlin #10 


Sodium Sulphite. 


. 3*4 ounces 

100 grams 

Pyro. 



34.5 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 


.... 36 grains 

2.4 grams 

Acid Salicylic. 


.....15 grains 

1 gram 

Acid Boric. 


.75 grains 

7.5 grams 

Glycin. 


. % ounce 

34.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 


. % ounce 

34.5 grams 

Water. 


.64 ounces 

2 litres 

Alcohol Iso Propyl 97%. 


. 3 ounces 

90 ccs 

Sodium Sulphate. 

. 

. 3*4 ounces 

100 grams 


This developer has exceptional keeping qualities, im¬ 
proves with use, and will develop more film per litre 
than most any other fine grain developer. The improve¬ 
ment with use is due directly to the fact that the pyro 
in the developer deteriorates rapidly, forming a heavily 
stained solution. With this deterioration the stain pro¬ 
ducing effect upon the film will increase. There is then 


69 












more of a stained image after the developer has been 
used for some time than when it was first freshly mixed. 
Tests have shown that each gallon of this developer will 
develop about eighty-five rolls of film and for this reason 
it is an excellent tank developer for regular fine grain 
finishing work. 

The grain structure of a negative developed in a 
freshly mixed formula #10 will not he quite as fine as 
the grain structure of a negative developed in formula 
#7. This is due to the fact that pyro is, like metol, an 
energetic reducing agent. There is some turbulence in 
the emulsion during the process of development. The 
high concentration of pyro is necessary for a proper 
stain, and this naturally results in some increase in 
agglomeration or hunching of the silver grains. The 
turbulence created by pyro is lessened as the developer 
is used, and with each succeeding roll there is an in¬ 
crease in the yellow stain. 

The most satisfactory results in fine grain work cannot 
be attained with pyrogallic acid as a part of the devel¬ 
oper. This chemical, like metol, was too much of a 
disturbing factor and created too much of a turbulence 
during the process of development. A low concentra¬ 
tion of pyro would have been perfectly satisfactory if 
the staining properties of this chemical could be re¬ 
tained in a highly concentrated sodium sulphite solu¬ 
tion. This, of course, was a difficulty because an increase 
in sulphite would naturally result in a decrease of the 
yellow stain given by the pyrogallic acid. Experiments 
were conducted with pyro derivatives. Rubinol, a 
Defender product, gave some very satisfactory results in 
the tests made with it. This substance had all of the 
good features of pyro and lacked many of pyro’s dis¬ 
advantages for fine grain work. Rubinol can be used 
with sodium sulphite and will give very nice images 
without the addition of any other chemical. In combina¬ 
tion with paraphenylenediamine it forms a fair fine 
grain developer. The grain structure of images devel¬ 
oped in paraphenylenediamine-rubinol-sodiuin sulphite 


70 


are not as fine as formula #7 and are only slightly finer 
that formula D-76-d. Rubinol can be used in highly 
concentrated sodium sulphite solutions without impair¬ 
ing its stain-giving qualities. The quantity of rubinol 
used to replace the metol in formula #7 was three and 
one-half grams per litre. Any more than this amount 
will allow the rubinol to do actual reducing of the silver 
halide to metallic silver. If this reduction by the 
rubinol actually takes place, there will he much more 
grain in the negative than is desired in fine grain work. 
The amount of rubinol should, therefore, be just suffi¬ 
cient to create a slight stain upon the latent image 
without actually reducing much of the silver halide to 
metallic silver. Another feature noted with the addition 
of rubinol to the formula #7 was that this chemical 
seemed to energize the process of development so that 
the actual developing time for a given contrast was less 
than that required by formula #7. This decrease in 
time was about twenty per cent of the times given for 
formula #7. The negatives developed in the test solu¬ 
tions containing two and one-half grams of rubinol per 
litre and no metol had a coarser grain structure than 
negatives developed in formula #7. This was a dis¬ 
advantage. 

A series of extensive tests showed that still another 
chemical was needed if pyro or any of its derivatives was 
to be used in fine grain work. The chemical selected for 
this purpose was digallic acid (tannic acid), and this 
made the rubinol a much better addition to the devel¬ 
oper than metol. Tannic acid can be used with other 
chemicals as a mordant in the dye process. In this 
process a relief image is created from the latent image 
formed by light in the emulsion. The gelatin is chemic¬ 
ally hardened in direct proportion to the amount of 
light-affected silver salts in the emulsion. If this relief 
image is bathed with certain dyes or with certain other 
chemicals, a real image will be formed because the dyes 
or other chemicals used will adhere strongly to the dense 
portions of the image and weakly to the finer portions of 


71 


the image and not at all to those parts which were 
unaffected by light. 

Now, something of this sort happens when tannic acid 
and rubinol are incorporated in the #7 developer. The 
image created by the reduction process and by the 
staining process was of a yellowish green color. This 
yellowish green color was almost transparent to the eye 
and yet it had a very strong restraining effect upon light 
in the enlarger. For this reason the images are very fine 
and delicate and still give stronger prints than denser 
appearing negatives developed, for example, in formula 
D-76-d. This is a decided advantage because miniature 
negatives should have a certain delicacy of tone values. 
They have to be enlarged to many times their original 
size, and if the separation of tones in the negative is too 
strong, the resulting enlargements allow far too much 
contrast. Herein lies the true secret of success in minia¬ 
ture camera work. The tone scale of the negative should 
be such as to make a poor contact print because the 
delicacy of the tone values is too fine and does not 
appear to advantage in a contact print. The most deli¬ 
cate separation of tone values will he intensified in the 
enlarging process. 

Tannic acid had a restraining effect upon rubinol so 
that developing times were the same as for the formula 
#7. Iso propyl alcohol 97% was added because the high 


chemical content of the developer could 

have easily 

created a precipitate 

in cold weather. The developer 

using this combination of chemicals was as 

Champlin #9 

follows: 

Water. 


1000 ccs 

Rubinol (Defender). 

.32 grains 

3.5 grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 1 *4 ounces 

60 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 


2 grams 

Acid Salicylic. 


0.5 gram 

Acid Boric. 


2.5 grams 

Acid Digallic (Tannic).. 

. 9 grains 

1 gram 

Glycin. 


11.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine..- 

. ounce 

11.5 grams 

Alcohol Iso Propyl 97%. 

. 1 ounce 

50 ccs 

The developing time with this formula should be 


72 













“ Windows ” Rowena Rathbone 

Agfa Superpan, exposed at W'ston 40; developed in Champlin #9. 


“Modern photography with its boldness, accuracy of detail, and 
various uses such as photomurals and posters, demands the kind of 
fine grain developer produced by Harry Champlin, for in no other 
way can grainless enlargements be made as large as desired, and as 
often as desired 

—Rowena Rathbone 


73 


based upon the length of time required to secure a nice 
stained image. If the developing time is prolonged be¬ 
yond this time, the image will become blacker, showing 
that the rubinol is doing its share of the reducing 
process, and there will he a coarsening of the grain 
structure of the negative. The yellowish green stain 
produced by this developer will have a far greater print¬ 
ing value and show a much finer separation of tone 
values than will a correctly developed D-76-d negative. 
The yellowish green stain is responsible also for the 
high emulsion speed of this developer. It seems that the 
stain of rubinol is more effective upon the shadowed 
portions of the negative than the ordinary type of re¬ 
ducing agents. The stain will act perfectly and within a 
relatively short time upon shadow detail; in fact, the 
stained shadow detail will be stronger in proportion to 
the highlights than the ordinary shadow-highlight 
brilliance of an ordinary negative. Care must be exer¬ 
cised, however, that these negatives are not over-devel¬ 
oped because if they are over-developed, there will he a 
blackening of the image and contrast will be built up. 
This blackening of the image will also cause a coarsen¬ 
ing of the grain structure. Negatives over-developed in 
the #9 formula will have a coarser grain structure than 
negatives developed in D-76-d. With the #9 formula, like 
with all of the formulas in this series, the temperature 
should be around 70-72° Fahrenheit. 

Formula #9 was just as much of a success with the 
miniature camera enthusiasts as was formula #7. We 
were deluged with letters from all over the country, 
letters from amateurs who had used these formulas and 
were enthusiastic about them. Formula #9 created the 
same controversy among chemists as formula #7. Re¬ 
gardless of their statements and paper calculations, the 
fact remained that these two formulas actually did a 
better job of fine grain developing. 

Experiments have shown that everything is not known 
about the chemistry of photography, and this probably 
accounts for the merry-go-round of ideas, ideas which 


74 


usually end up with the same formulas, the same chem¬ 
icals, and the same results. Photography is truly a 
science of the highest order and it is in its infancy. For 
this reason we cannot condemn a developer or any new 
method of producing an image upon film just because 
it is not in accordance with the ideas of recognized 
photographic chemists. Formulas #7 and #9 were new 
and accomplished more than the other fine grain for¬ 
mulas offered. They were by no means the ultimate in 
developers. 

So little is known about the image formed by light 
upon the sensitive silver in the film that there are pos¬ 
sibilities of entirely new trends in the treatment of this 
subject. Some authorities believe that the latent image 
is chemical, while other authorities believe that it is 
purely physical. The actual attraction of one silver 
particle to another has not been definitely determined. 
No one can actually say what takes place in the dark in 
a developing solution. The theory uppermost today is 
that the alkalinity of a developer causes a breakdown 
of the gelatin and results in an explosion of the silver 
halide when attacked by the reducing agents. This 
theory is the commonly accepted one. The explosion, 
it seems, is the cause of the agglomeration or hunching 
or clumping of the silver grains. The theory also rea¬ 
sons that the higher the alkalinity or pH of the devel¬ 
oper, the more reduction of silver halide to metallic 
silver there will be. This theory does not account for 
the fact that in formulas #7 and #9 the alkalinity is 
reduced to almost neutral and yet there was no sacrifice 
in emulsion speed or grain size; in fact, there was an 
enhanced emulsion speed due to a reduction in the 
alkalinity of these developing formulas. 

Experiments along an entirely different line of thought 
have proved to be intensely interesting. In any emulsi¬ 
fication there is a certain dormant static potential. The 
process of development places the silver salts in a solu¬ 
tion which has a tendency to release this potential. The 
silver grains are attracted to one another as if by a mag- 


75 


netic force. If this theory of ours is true, it would seem 
most logical that any means which might restrain this 
magnetic impulse would naturally prevent a certain 
amount of the agglomeration or clumping which takes 
place during the process of development. This theory 
is not an original one because some one tried years ago 
to solve such a problem by using electrodes in the 
developing tank but this was not the correct way to 
attack the problem. It did not accomplish anything. 

The addition of some metal to the developer might 
be a far better way to attack this problem. If some 
metallic salt was added to the developer, the silver in 
the emulsion might become a non-conductor, and there¬ 
fore might not be affected by any magnetic force. This, 
then, is the basis for a long series of experiments. Now, 
the natural metal to incorporate in the developer in 
order to accomplish this purpose was nickel. In the 
manufacture of stainless steels which are non-magnetic, 
nickel and chromium are used. Nickel is the basis of 
Monel-metal. The addition of nickel in the metallic 
form to other metals creates a metal which is a non¬ 
conductor. In photographic chemistry we must natur¬ 
ally use nickel salts. These are obtainable as chlorides 
and sulphates. 

Nickel chloride crystals were powdered and then dis¬ 
solved in a small quantity of water. Two grams of nickel 
chloride in about thirty ccs of distilled water were 
added to one litre of the formula #9. The developer 
clouded immediately, changing to an olive green color. 
A precipitate formed which took about twenty-four 
hours to settle to the bottom of the beaker. The solu- 
ion was then filtered and the clear liquid filtrate was 
used as a developer. The negatives produced by this 
developer were the finest in appearance, printing qual¬ 
ity, and emulsion speed of any which this writer has 
ever seen. The grain structure was finer than that pro¬ 
duced by formula #7 and the shadow detail indicated a 
high emulsion speed. The life of the developer was 
short, indicating that the nickel had had a very serious 


76 



Rex Hardy 

The Marx Brothers playing in M.G.M’s “Day At The Races”. 
Courtesy Time, Inc., and Life. 

Developed in Champlin #15. 

effect upon the organic substances in the solution. The 
precipitate filtered out of this developer was mainly 
tannic acid and there was, of course, a certain amount 
of the surplus of the other chemicals in the solution 
which, too, were dissolved out. 

A long series of experimental developers were then 


77 






made, each one eliminating one chemical of the formula 
#9 and each one including nickel chloride in the 
amount of two grams per litre of developer. This was, 
of course, an experiment hy trial and error because trial 
and error is actually the best method of determining 
anything. It may be longer, hut it is surer. Tannic acid 
was found to be the greatest offender and this chemical 
refused to dissolve in the presence of the nickel chloride. 
A developer was made up with all of the ingredients 
of the formula #9 except the tannic acid, and experi¬ 
ments were conducted with it. The results obtained 
from the original solution containing nickel chloride 
were vastly superior to a developer containing no tannic 
acid. Moreover, it was possible to duplicate the results 
of the first nickel chloride developer time and again. 
This proved that the addition of the metal was really 
worth while. This was indeed interesting. 

An attempt was made to replace the acidity of the 
tannic acid which precipitated out when nickel was 
added. Hydrochloric acid was used for this purpose. 
The hydrochloric acid naturally brought the pH or 
acid-alkalinity down to the same level as did the tannic 
acid. There was actually no decrease in developing 
power of the solution when hydrochloric acid was 
added, although there was a considerable increase in 
the coarseness of the grain structure of the emulsion. 
Here again was proof positive that the lowering of the 
alkalinity of the developer did not necessarily mean that 
emulsion speed of that developer was decreased. The 
developer using nickel chloride was as follows: 


Champlin #11 


Water. 


1000 ccs 

Rubinol (Defender). 


3.5 grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 


60 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 


2 grams 

Acid Salicylic. 


0.5 gram 

Acid Boric. 


2.5 grams 

Acid Digallic. 


1 gram 

Glycin. 


11.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 


11.5 grams 

Alcohol Iso Propyl 97%. 

. 1 ounce 

50 ccs 

Nickel Chloride. 


2 grams 


78 














Charles Kerlee 


DuPont Superior film developed in Champlin #15. 


79 



Dissolve the chemicals in the order given. If crystaline 
or technical paraphenylenediamine is used, this should 
be heated to 180° Fahrenheit in a small quantity of 
water and added to the solution. The nickel chloride 
should not be added until the developer is cooled to 70 
Fahrenheit. There will he a cloudiness which will turn 
to a thick precipitate with much the same appearance 
as pea soup. This precipitate should be allowed to 
settle and then filtered off, after which the developer 
will he ready for use. The life of this developer is very 
short, depending upon the amount of film developed 
in it. 

The reaction between the nickel chloride, parapheny¬ 
lenediamine, glycin, and tannic acid was really not a 
desirable one. The results obtained by the addition of 
nickel chloride to the developer were so revolutionary 
as far as emulsion speed, grain structure, and tone qual¬ 
ity were concerned, that experiments were continued 
with the other salt forms of this chemical. Nickel sul¬ 
phate was added to the developer in the same amount 
of two grams per litre. The reaction was much the same. 
There was the same precipitate which had to he filtered 
out and the same olive green colored solution after filter¬ 
ing. The developing time was increased over that re¬ 
quired by the nickel chloride, and there was also a 
slightly coarser grain structure. This coarsening of the 
grain structure was due to the fact that to build up a 
given density of image required a much longer immer¬ 
sion of the film in the solution, and this longer immer¬ 
sion gave a much greater agglomeration or clumping of 
the silver grains. It appears that films can only be left 
in these new type solutions for a definite period without 
coarsening the grain structure. 

This brings up the old idea that any attempt to pro¬ 
duce a given gamma or contrast of a film will result in 
the same graininess or coarseness of the grain structure 
regardless of the developer used. This idea has been 
exploded time and again, hut it seems that some people 


“We Point With Pride 


Harry Champlin 


Contax; 85 mm. Triotar F:4; DuPont Superior exposed at Weston 
64; developed in Champlin #15. Notice that with the high emul¬ 
sion speed rating of Weston 64, full shadow detail has been obtained 
in the telegraph pole and the buildings in the middle distance, and 
that aerial perspective and highlight gradation are well maintained. 

















still believe that such is actually the case. The grain 
structure is a result of the action of the chemicals in the 
developer and has nothing whatsoever to do with a 
standard gamma or contrast. It is true, however, that if 
films are left in a developer for longer than is necessary 
to produce correct contrast, there will be a natural 
coarsening of the grain structure. 

One feature was noted in developers made with either 
nickel chloride or nickel sulphate, and that was the 
tremendous amount of shadow detail given by these 
developers in proportion to the highlight detail. In fact, 
it was possible to develop a negative of a scene with 
great contrast and to balance this negative perfectly in 
the developer. The shadow detail would be built up 
long before it was possible to attain maximum density 
in the highlights. This was a feature not to be found in 
any other high emulsion speed developer, fine grain or 
otherwise. This shadow-density property of the devel¬ 
oper was somewhat the same so far as shadow detail was 
concerned as the practice of over-exposing and under- 
developing followed by so many miniature camera 
workers. The main difference, however, was in the 
brilliance and sparkle to the highlights of a print from 
a negative developed in a formula containing a nickel 
salt. 

Another feature peculiar to this developer is that the 
visual and printing densities are far different. No color 
is apparent to the eye, and yet the printing time re¬ 
quired for a negative which appears to have no more 
than average density will be at least twice that required 
for a properly exposed and developed D-76-d neg¬ 
ative of the same apparent density. This feature will 
be at once apparent to any one making an enlargement 
from a negative developed in the #11 formula. The 
color is not the same as the yellow green stain of the 
#9 formula. 

Still another feature peculiar to this developer is that 
the paraphenylenediamine stain is not quite so great. 


62 



E. C. Kalbfus 


Zeiss Super lkonta B; 1/100th sec. at F:8; on Agfa Super pan 
Press, Weston rating 144; developed in Champlin 16; print on 
Eastman Kodabroni N, in Champlin Salon Developer. 


83 







The paraphenylenediamine stain will certainly assert 
itself if any of the solution is spilled and allowed to dry 
and oxidize upon any surface. Paraphenylenediamine 
requires an extraordinary amount of care in use if stains 
are to be prevented. The best way for the amateur 
photographer to handle a tankful of developer con¬ 
taining this chemical is to place the tank in a tray or any 
other receptacle and to shake the receptacle and not 
handle the tank or allow any of the contents to spill out 
of the receptacle during the process of development. If 
any developer is spilled, it should be wiped up imme¬ 
diately and the place washed with soap and water. This 
will save repainting the kitchen. The hands should be 
washed with a mild alkaline soap such as that made by 
the Pacific Coast Borax Company and sold under the 
trade name ‘Boraxo.’ 

Extensive experiments by Harry Crawford with the 
#11 formula showed that this developer improved with 
age and at the end of thirty days all of the ingredients 
in the developer were working harmoniously. There was 
no loss in emulsion speed, and the grain structure was 
finer than when first mixed. The keeping qualities of 
this developer were excellent regardless of the condi¬ 
tions under which it was kept. Neither brown nor blue 
bottles were required, and it was not necessary to keep 
the bottles in a dark room or closet. The used solution 
clouded rapidly and in some instances actually plated 
the container with a coating of pure silver. This plat¬ 
ing was actually heavy enough to transform the beakers 
into mirrors. This was specially true if the developer 
contained nickel chloride and was not quite so pro¬ 
nounced when nickel sulphate was used. 

In electro plating, nickel and ammonium sulphate 
are sometimes used. This double salt was tried and it 
had very much the same characteristics as the nickel 
chloride in the developer. The amount of nickel and 
ammonium sulphate first used was two grams per litre 
and a developer was made using this chemical as fol¬ 
lows: 


84 


water (1 ounce) and add very slowly to the developer. 
A precipitate may form at the top of the container and 
slowly settle to the bottom. If the precipitate forms and 
settles, the developer should he filtered. If no precipitate 
forms, the developer should be filtered nevertheless. 
This filtering is important and failure will result if it is 
not carefully carried out. 

This developer was mixed and bottled and presented 
to at least one hundred well-known miniature camera 
photographers. It was thoroughly tested. Their com¬ 
ments were sent with samples of the developer to com¬ 
petent testing laboratories and all of the information 
gained was compiled and used in the preparation of this 
book. 

Since the first edition of this work, life has been for 
me one continuous round of letter writing and question 
answering. Naturally there have been many questions 
asked—questions impossible to foresee at the time this 
book was written. For this reason, it might be well to 
say a few things about Formula 15 so that people who 
have not written or called in person at my little place in 
Beverly Hills may have these questions answered. 

The keeping qualities and the amount of film which 
can be developed in any developer are matters of impor¬ 
tance to most photographers. Formula No. 15 has been 
kept in solution for over one year without any deteriora¬ 
tion whatsoever. The developing powers of this formula 
will permit 48 rolls of miniature 35 mm. film to be devel¬ 
oped in each 4 liters (1 gal. approx.). This means that 
this developer will develop 12 rolls of film per liter (32 
ozs. approx.). This figure has been ascertained in my 
own laboratory in the development of some thousands of 
rolls of 35 mm. film. 

In order to allow a reasonable margin of safety the 


87 


hook recommends that only ten rolls of film he developed 
in each liter (32 ozs. approx.). 

The increase in time necessary in order to maintain 
correct density was found to he 2 minutes additional for 
each 5 rolls of film developed in 4 liters of solution. This 
amounts to about 2 minutes for each roll of film devel¬ 
oped in 20 ounces of solution. Sensitometric strips de¬ 
veloped as the first and 48tli roll of film in our pyrex 
developing tanks have shown the same reading and have 
proved that the life of formula No. 15 is safely heyond 
12 rolls per liter of developer. 

Some workers have used a time increase factor of 1*4 
minutes per roll per 20 ounces of developer because of a 
preference for a slightly thinner, more delicate negative. 
This is a purely personal matter. The worker is urged to 
follow the times given in the book to make changes only 
after making the test recommended in chapter three. 

Another feature of interest to many people, who have 
mixed up and used the developer, was the heavy pre¬ 
cipitate which formed shortly after film was developed 
in it. This precipitate is formed mainly of the anti-halo 
coating and gray backing in 35 mm. films and is photo¬ 
graphically inert so that it will have no effect whatsoever 
upon subsequent developing. Many people were alarmed 
by this heavy precipitate which sometimes took the form 
of large flakes and settled in the bottom of the developer. 
You may filter out this precipitate if you care to do so. 
We never filter it out in our own laboratory. 

Another question which arose many times was one 
relating to the density of normally exposed negatives 
when developed in formula No. 15. There seemed to he 
a general idea that normally exposed negatives could not 
be developed in formula No. 15 because this developer 
was only suited to less than normal exposures. The differ¬ 
ence between a negative, such as Du Pont Superior, 
exposed at Weston 24 and at Weston 64 is simply a matter 
of density of the resulting negative, and the denser 
negative will require more printing time. 


88 


It has been proved many times that thin negatives with 
a wealth of detail are better for enlarging than dense 
negatives, and the user of formula No. 15 will soon learn 
that there is incorporated in the image of his negatives 
a dye which acts much the same as a dense deposit upon 
the negative. For this reason it is advisable to expose 
the negatives so that they will appear thinner than 
negatives developed in ordinary developer. 

The denser negatives, however, will not have the 
blocked-up highlights, which are a feature of so many 
miniature negatives. 

Another point which needs clarifying is the total vol¬ 
ume of developer to be made up from the formula. In 
each instance, with the exception of formula 16, the 
amount of water given is the amount of water into which 
the chemicals are to be dissolved. There will he a total 
volume of approximately 15 per cent more than the 
volume of water given with each formula. 

We have had reports from all over the world relative 
to the temperature best suited for development in for¬ 
mula No. 15. Seventy degrees Fahrenheit has proved to 
be correct. 

There is a definite loss in film speed when the tempera¬ 
ture is decreased to 67 degrees Fahrenheit. This loss in 
film speed is due to the fact that the temperature is not 
high enough and unless the temperature is at 70 degrees 
Fahrenheit, all the chemicals in the developer will not 
work at maximum efficiency; there will not be sufficient 
stain to the developed image. 

Now, the image formed by formula No. 15 during the 
process of developing appears in full detail after a cer¬ 
tain length of time in the solution and then, as develop¬ 
ment time is increased, contrast increases also. This is a 
little different from the usual development progress. 


89 


Developers with a high reduction potential usually build 
up the highlights first and then, as the development time 
is increased, build up the weak shadows. Formula No. 15 
builds up highlight and shadow alike and, as develop¬ 
ment time is increased, highlight density is increased. 
During this process there is a staining of the developed 
image and this stain has the same effect as a heavy 
deposit in the negative. Hence, it is possible to stop 
development at the point where there is sufficient con¬ 
trast due to the stain itself, even though the reduction 
process is not as full as is the case with ordinary 
developers. 

You can see from this that the staining of the image is 
highly important and if the temperature is not high 
enough to produce this stain, there will be a loss in the 
efficiency of the developer. 


90 


CHAPTER SIX 


Champlin 16 


The completion of Formula 15 did not mark the end 
of experimentation. In fact, time has a way of showing 
the faults and virtues of everything. 

Before any attempt was made to improve upon For¬ 
mula 15 or to make any new developing formula a list 
of requirements was made. You should always know 
what you want to do and then work towards that end. 
Such procedure simplifies matters and makes success a 
greater possibility. 

The new developer was to have tone quality, high 
emulsion speed, fine grain structure, uniformity of results 
and was to he non-staining. For a period of some ten 
years the photographic world had been playing with 
Paraphenylenediamine. This chemical is an alkaline dye 
of low energy when in photographic solution. Its virtue 
lies in the fact that negatives developed with it have a 
very fine grain structure. The disadvantages are its 
staining properties and its unstable character. All devel¬ 
opers break down sooner or later. Paraphenylenedia¬ 
mine will break down without warning and for this 
reason its life cannot accurately be gauged. Glycin is 
another chemical of unstable character. Its principal use 
in fine grain work is as a buffer or accelerator of Para¬ 
phenylenediamine. The new developer was to be made 
without these two chemicals. All of the experimentation 
of the past eighteen months was conducted without 
either Paraphenylenediamine or glycin. In fact, it was 
exactly as if these two chemicals did not exist. 


91 


The first great problem was to find some way to harden 
the gelatin structure selectively. This means that where 
there was a lot of exposure to light there would he much 
hardening of the gelatin and where there was little 
exposure the hardening effect would be least. This effect 
is attained to some small extent in an ordinary pyro 
developer and is likewise apparent in negatives develop¬ 
ed in Formula 15. Experimentation proved that it was 
actually the pyro and the tannic acid in Formula 15 
which was responsible for this activation. And so pyro 
and tannic acid were used in the experiments. The basic 
idea was to so harden the gelatin that there would not he 
much penetration by the reducing agents into the emul¬ 
sion. Development would then be restricted to the sur¬ 
face of the emulsion. This in turn would prevent the 
tremendous build-up of highlight density and the nega¬ 
tives would therefore have much more tone quality. Tone 
quality was to he the prime feature of the new developer. 
Negatives developed in it were to have a range of tones 
similar to those seen by the human eye. 

When we look at any scene we see both highlight and 
shadow detail. Only those things which are actually 
black should be black in a picture. Only those high¬ 
lights which are glaring white to our eyes should he 
white. All other colors should cause some silver deposit 
in the negative. Tone quality such as this was gained by 
selectively hardening the gelatin of the emulsion so that 
development of the negative was restricted to the surface. 
One of the difficulties encountered with the surface de¬ 
velopment of negatives is due to the fact that such nega¬ 
tives are inclined to be too thin—to flat printing. In 
order to overcome this tendency an accelerator is sought 
and found which would activate the reducing agents 
without having any effect upon the gelatin structure. 
This acceleration of the reducing agents made possible 
compounding the developer as a concentrated solution. 
For a long while we have been using developing solutions 


92 



Anton Baumann 


Leica camera; l/60th sec. at F: 11, on E.K. Plus X; developed for 
6 minutes at 70°F. in Champlin 16. 


93 




over and over again in order to decrease the cost of 
developing our films. It is a well-known fact that de¬ 
velopers should be used once only. During the process 
of development, silver bromide and other chemicals are 
added to the solution. The oxidation process results in 
an increase in the acidity of the solution. All of these 
things are detrimental to the action of the developer to 
such an extent that ultimately no development can take 
place. Now since contamination starts immediately after 
a roll of film is placed in the solution, it can readily he 
seen that a developer after it has been once used is not 
as efficient as a developer which has not been used. 

Some have sought to overcome this contamination and 
deterioration by the addition of a little time for each 
succeeding roll developed, while others have tried add¬ 
ing replenishers to the developer. The chemistry of 
photography has not yet devised any chemical addition 
to a used developer which will destroy the detrimental 
elements in it without destroying the developer itself. 
For this reason the new developer was to be made as a 
concentrated solution one part of which when mixed with 
nine parts of water will make a working developer which 
could be used once and then discarded. All of the ex¬ 
periments were conducted towards creating a developer 
capable of working perfectly at this dilution. Ordinarily 
we have to use either a high concentration of chemicals 
or a strong alkali in a developer which is to be diluted 
one part with nine parts of water. There is a limit to 
the amount of concentration possible in fine grain devel¬ 
opers due to the fact that so much sodium sulphite is 
required. The ordinary fine grain developer usually 
contains in the neighborhood of 100 grams (3 l / 2 ounces) 
of sodium sulphite per liter (32 ounces) of developer. 
A developer which is to he diluted with 9 parts of water 
to make a total of 10 parts of solution would have to have 
more sulphite than can he dissolved in such a quantity of 
water in order to produce results without the addition of 
some accelerating agent. This difficulty was overcome 
in a very simple manner. The developer was to be made 


94 


in a concentrated solution and the stock solution.was to 
be diluted with a 10 per cent sulphite solution. In other 
words, 100 grams (3^4 ounces) of sodium sulphite is to 
be dissolved in one liter (32 ounces) of plain water. 
Since the one part of stock solution contains 10 per cent 
sodium sulphite and the 9 parts contain the same per¬ 
centage, we have as much sulphite as is ordinarily recom¬ 
mended for fine grain developing. This seems to be the 
only way in which the required amount of sulphite could 
be used in the diluted developer. Ordinary developers 
which are not used for fine grain work do not have so 
much sulphite and can be diluted because they usually 
contain an alkali strong enough to accelerate reducing 
agents to great activity. Such alkalis cannot be used for 
fine grain work. The accelerator used to prevent the 
flatness usually associated with surface development 
proved to be a perfect substitute for a strong alkali. In 
fact, this chemical had all of the virtues of the alkali 
without any of the faults. The principal reducing agent 
used in the experiments was Pyro and a little Metol was 
added in order to speed up acceleration. Pyro-Metol 
combination was excellent, hut the chemicals used for 
gelatin hardening and for acceleration were not com¬ 
patible with these two. And first one thing would hap¬ 
pen, then another until finally all experimentation was 
concentrated upon the creation of a compound contain¬ 
ing these two chemicals. This was one of the most diffi¬ 
cult, and yet one of the most interesting, tasks ever 
undertaken in my laboratory. 

Chemical manufacturers’ shelves were combed for rare 
chemicals and sample compounds were secured in the 
laboratory from oil companies. All of this finally re¬ 
sulted in a compound of six chemicals which were dis¬ 
solved in tannic acid at a temperature well above 300°F. 
Out of all this came an entirely new compound which I 
have called Tironamine-C. The ingredients in it are 
perfectly balanced and are perfectly compatible. The 
delicacy of the formula can he appreciated by the fact 
that one of the chemicals making up the compound is 


95 



The three illustrations on this and the facing page are 35 diameter 
enlargements from sensitometric strips prepared by the Agfa Ansco 
Laboratories in Hollywood. They clearly show the remarkable im¬ 
provement in grain structure obtained through development in 
Champlin 16. 

Agfa Supreme film was used in each case. 

Figure 1 shows the grain structure of Agfa Supreme after develop¬ 
ment for 12 minutes at 6# c F. in Agfa 17, an M. Q. Borax type of 
form ula. 

Figure 2 shows the grain structure of Agfa Supreme after develop¬ 
ment for 19 l /2 minutes at 70° F. in Champlin 15. 

Figure 3 shows the grain structure of Agfa Supreme after develop¬ 
ment for 9 1 /2 minutes at 70° F. in Champlin 16. 


96 




Figure 2. Agfa Supreme in Champlin 15 



Figure 3. Agfa Supreme in Champlin 16 


used in the dilution of one part to approximately six 
hundred thousand parts. The separate identities of all 
these chemicals are lost because they are fused into one 
new compound, Tironamine-C. 

After the balance of Tironamine-C was completed, it 
was found that this compound would work perfectly 
with Metol and Pyro together or alone. It would work 
perfectly with other reducing agents and this fact lead 
to further experimentation. Hydroquinone was tried and 
found to be far too energetic for fine grain work. A 
derivative of hydroquinone, chlorhydroquinone, was 
used. There was an immediate change in tone quality 
and grain structure from that in the negatives developed 
with Pyro-Metol. There was a finer, more delicate sepa¬ 
ration of tones so that prints from these negatives ap¬ 
peared more in accordance with what the eye sees. 

For a while Pyrocatechin was added to the Hydro¬ 
quinone, hut this reducing agent which is very close to 
Pyro did not do very much of the actual negative devel¬ 
oping and so it was discarded and the Chlorhydroquinone 
was used alone. The quantity of sulphite ranged in the 
experiments from 10 to 100 grams per liter (150 grains 
to 3 y 2 ounces per 32 ounces). 

Considering the fact that the developer was to be a 
concentrated solution and was to be diluted one part 
with nine parts of water, the sulphite content was placed 
at 100 grams per liter. The amount of chlorhydroquinone 
was varied by itself and in combination with other re¬ 
ducing agents until finally 50 grams per liter was found 
to he the best all around quantity. The developer then 
became: 


Champlin No. 16 


Water. 800 ccs 

Sodium sulphite . 100 grams 

Chlorhydroquinone . 50 grams 

Tironamine-C. 60 ccs 

Water to make.1000 ccs 


24 ounces 
3)4 ounces 

1 l /z ounces 

2 ounces 
32 ounces 


The chemicals are dissolved in the order given. The 
best way to dissolve a large quantity of sodium sulphite is 
to pour it into a bottle filled with about three-fourths of 


98 







the correct amount of water. Cork the bottle and shake it 
vigorously, and in a minute or two all the sulphite will 
be dissolved. The same procedure can be followed with 
the chlorhydroquinone. The purity of the chlorhydro- 
quinone should be beyond question. It is not the purpose 
of this book to recommend one chemical or the products 
of any particular manufacturer. There are, in fact, sev¬ 
eral excellent grades of chlorhydroquinone on the mar¬ 
ket. The best way to assure yourself that the chemical is 
of the correct quality is to make a test for acidity with 
litmus paper or by any of the common testing methods. 
This chemical should be neutral. If it is acid, it should 
not be used. 

After the developer has been mixed thoroughly, it is a 
stock solution ready for use. It may be well to say here 
that within a day or two a precipitate might form. This 
precipitate can be filtered out and from then on the 
solution will he a perfectly clear ruby-colored liquid. 

The developer can be mixed one part of stock solution 
and nine parts of plain water. However, in order to 
secure the greatest emulsion speed, fine grain and tone 
quality, the user is strongly urged to mix the stock solu¬ 
tion, not with plain water, but with a 10 per cent sodium 
sulphite solution. Please remember that it is almost 
impossible to concentrate a sufficient quantity of sodium 
sulphite in any developer which is to be used in a highly 
diluted form without the addition of strong alkalis or 
agents for acceleration. This problem is at once solved 
by using for dilution, instead of plain water, a 10 per 
cent sodium sulphite solution and this makes it relatively 
easy to prepare a fine grain developer in concentrated 
form. 

Your first roll of negatives developed in Formula 16 
will show you what is meant by tone quality. There will 
be no blocking up of highlights and shadows and it will 
be full of detail. The concentration of chemicals will he 
exactly right for a miniature negative. This means that 
there will be neither too much nor too little. Over¬ 
exposure will not cause hopelessly dense and unprint- 


99 


able negatives and your exposures will still have nice 
shadow detail. The grain structure naturally depends 
upon the developing time. Unlike ordinary developers, 
it is impossible to build up terrific contrast in any nega¬ 
tive material in a reasonably normal developing time. 
Over-developing, especially at high temperatures, is to 
be rigidly avoided because there will be little change in 
contrast, but considerable change in grain structure. 
This can be explained by saying that there is a certain 
period after the films have been placed in the developer 
when correct density and contrast have been attained. 
There follows then another period during which little 
change can be noted. During this period of little change 
the grain structure undergoes a continual increased 
coarsening process. For this reason, you should not 
develop films any longer than the times given in another 
section of this hook. 

Films developed exactly for the times given in the 
tables will have a grain structure one-third finer than 
that of negatives correctly developed in Chainplin No. 15. 
In other words, actual measurements of the grain struc¬ 
ture of one of the coarsest grained ultra-rapid films 
developed in both Formula 15 and 16 show that the 
grain size of this film in Formula 15 is 3/10,000 of an 
inch, while the grain size of the same film developed in 
Formula 16 is only 2/10,000 of an inch. These grain 
sizes were measured in several different rolls developed 
in these formulas, and in each case the films were devel¬ 
oped to the same identical gamma or density. These films 
also show that there is almost three times as much 
shadow detail in the negatives developed in Formula 16. 
It has been said time and again that shadow detail is 
the criterion of emulsion speed. Since there is more 
shadow detail in negatives developed in Formula 16, 
this developer has a greater emulsion speed. The expo¬ 
sure times for negatives can be those recommended for 
Formula 15. They can be a little less or a little more 
because the developer has very great latitude. 

Laboratory tests have shown that a film such as Agfa 


100 



Harry Champlin 


Contax, 8.5 cm. Sonnar F:2; 1/125th sec. at F: 11 (29 Scheiner, 100 
Weston) on DuPont Superior, developed 6 minutes at 78°F. in 
Champlin 16. 


101 



Superpan New Type, which is rated by the Weston 
pamphlet dated August 1938 as 64 in daylight, can 
receive exposures ranging between 32 Weston and 200 
Weston. To make this illustration clear, say that the 
normal exposure recommended for this particular film 
under certain conditions of light is 1/50 of a second at 
f:16. Negatives which receive an exposure at 1/50 of a 
second at f: 32 or one-fourth of the recommended expo¬ 
sure have in them as much shadow detail and tonal 
quality as negatives which have heen given the normal 
exposure. Negatives which were exposed at 1/25 of a 
second at f:16 and have thus received twice the normal 
exposure will be a little denser and will have practically 
the same tonal values. The wide latitude of this devel¬ 
oper will insure negatives with fewer failures due to 
either over or under-exposure. 

The formulas printed in this book are new and are 
not just a rehash of what has been said time and again 
for the past ten years. There is no mystery anywhere. 
The purpose of this hook is simply to help the miniature 
camera enthusiast to understand something about de¬ 
veloping and about the chemicals used in fine grain work. 
The only real way to advance is through knowledge and 
no one has a corner on this particular item. Knowledge 
is the result and findings of many people, and since 
photography has always heen my liohby, I am anxious 
to see it advance and so I have no secrets. There is no 
claim that any formula described in this hook is the 
ultimate in fine grain work. This much can be said, 
however: I know that formula 16 is superior in tone 
quality and emulsion speed to any developer recom¬ 
mended for fine grain work. For the first time since I 
have been delving into the science of photochemistry, I 
have felt the satisfaction of knowing that every roll of 
film which I develop in Formula 16 will have exactly 
the same density, tone quality and grain structure. And 
so, if this formula or any of the ideas presented in this 
hook will help any one produce a better developer, it 
will have served its purpose. 


102 


CHAPTER SEVEN 


Causes of Failure 


There has been a deluge of letters from all over the 
world in which there were questions concerning the pro¬ 
cessing of films. Some letters were from amateurs who 
had read this writer’s articles on fine grain development 
in CAMERA CRAFT and wanted more articles like 
them. Other letters were from amateur photographers 
who were having troubles of their own with the devel¬ 
opers they were using and their methods of processing 
film. Then there were the usual letters from amateurs 
with an experimental bent who had theorized about the 
formulas given in CAMERA CRAFT and had changed 
things to suit themselves and then wondered why certain 
things happened. Photography is a science of chem¬ 
istry besides being an art. We are not all chemists and 
we do not all have fine laboratories in which to conduct 
our work. Most of the fine grain developing is done in 
the kitchen sink. It is possible for the amateur kitchen 
photographer to have negatives as free from imperfec¬ 
tions as those developed in the finest laboratory. On 
the other hand, it is possible for the worker in the finest 
laboratory to have a lot of troubles also. It may be well 
to enumerate some of the troubles which might confront 
us. 


103 


One of the prime reasons why we have such poor 
negatives when we develop them ourselves is because of 
impure water. Water is a chemical and is just as im¬ 
portant a chemical as any of the other chemicals in the 
developer or fixing bath. Its purity should be beyond 
question. Water varies according to the territory 
through which it passes in its flow from the mountains 
to the sea. If it flows through lime rock, it will have an 
excess of alkali. It may have chlorine or sulphur or a 
host of other chemicals, and if it does, it is unfit for use 
in developing solutions. Chlorine, for example, will 
prevent developers containing paraphenylenediamine 
from acting. Sulphur and certain alkalis will soften 
the gelatin to such an extent that it will be ruined. The 
purity of water used in developing solutions is much 
more important than the purity of the water you drink. 
This is true of most of the other chemicals used in pho¬ 
tography. The purity of water is no problem if dis¬ 
tilled water is used for compounding all developing 
formulas. 

The compounding of a formula is of the utmost im¬ 
portance. No chemical should be added to a solution 
until all the other chemicals in the solution have been 
dissolved. Certain chemicals will not dissolve in the 
presence of other chemicals. Metol, for instance, 
should be dissolved before sulphite is dissolved. Glycin, 
on the other hand, should not be added until the sul¬ 
phite has been dissolved. Chemical formulas are usually 
listed in the order in which they are to be dissolved. It 
should be one of the first lessons taught the beginner 
in photography that all formulas should be dissolved in 
the order given. This will eliminate precipitates form¬ 
ing and certain chemicals from refusing entirely to act. 

A developer should he stored in a place with a fairly 
even temperature. The temperature should not be al¬ 
lowed to drop to the freezing point in winter and then 
be raised for use, nor should it be allowed to reach 90° 
Fahrenheit in summer and then be cooled for use. The 
developer should be stored in a place with a fairly even 


104 


temperature in winter, and in summer the bottle con¬ 
taining the developer should be wrapped with a layer 
or two of blotting paper and kept in a tray of water. 
The evaporation of the water from the blotter will 
maintain a temperature of from eight to ten degrees 
less than the prevailing temperature of the air. Hence, 
it is possible to store the bottle containing the developer 
in a comparatively cool place during the hottest days 
of summer and still maintain a temperature of approxi¬ 
mately 70° Fahrenheit which is the best temperature 
for developers containing paraphenylenediamine and 
glycin. 

The development process is a result of oxidation of 
the chemicals in the developing solution. This oxida¬ 
tion is accelerated by oxygen in the air and water. If 
the developing solution is allowed to stand open for any 
great length of time, it will be subjected to a continual 
stream of fresh oxygen, and its life will be materially 
shortened. A developing solution should, therefore, be 
stored in a closed bottle with very little air in the bottle. 
If it is desired to make a supply of developer, it should 
be stored in a number of small bottles instead of just 
one large bottle. For example, one gallon of developer 
is best stored in eight sixteen ounce bottles instead of 
a one-gallon bottle. Paraphenylenediamine-glycin de¬ 
velopers do not have to be stored in brown or blue 
bottles; in fact, Dr. Sampson has proved that these de¬ 
velopers showed some improvement in quality when 
stored in clear bottles and subjected to direct sunlight 
for several days. The writer has made several tests and 
has found this to be a fact. Champlin Formula No. 16 
has been left in an open beaker for thirty days without 
any oxidation and consequent loss of developing power. 

A developing solution has a definite life. A develop¬ 
ing solution will correctly develop just so many square 
inches of film and no more. The amount of film a de¬ 
veloper will correctly develop depends entirely upon its 
composition. Too many fine grain developers are over¬ 
worked. This is probably not a fault of the amateur 


105 


photographer; the fault actually lies with the salesman 
behind the counter who is anxious to sell a bottle of his 
pet developer. The development process liberates sil¬ 
ver and bromide from the film. The bromide is a re¬ 
strainer and its action is to withhold detail in the 
shadows from the film; in other words, a developing 
solution containing a large quantity of bromide will 
develop less shadow detail than a developer containing 
little or no bromide. Prolonged developement will not do 
anything more than build up density in the highlights. 
For this reason developers claiming extraordinary life 
should he looked upon with a certain amount of doubt. 
With each Champlin formula shown in the back of this 
book, there is a figure showing how many ounces of de¬ 
veloper are required for ten rolls of 35 mm miniature 
film. Any attempt to develop more film than the 
amount shown by these figures will result in a definite 
loss of emulsion speed. This loss in emulsion speed 
cannot be accurately gauged because there is no way 
for the amateur photographer to know exactly how 
much silver and bromide have been dissolved into the 
solution. This loss in emulsion speed is something which 
happens with any developer. No one has been able to 
compound a developer with an indefinite life. 

Champlin Formula No. 16 will develop more film 
because it was compounded on an entirely new theory 
of fine grain developers. The instructions following the 
formula on page 98 should be carefully read. 

Another source of great trouble is the fixing hath. 
Fine grain developed negatives should not be fixed in 
the common packaged acid fixing hath unless a harden¬ 
ing stop bath has been used. The chemicals in a para- 
phenylenediamine-glycin developer will quickly break 
down any fixing bath. As soon as there is any deterior¬ 
ation in the fixing hath, there will be an additional 
agglomeration of the silver grains in the emulsion. The 
fixing bath then can he a contributing factor to a coarse 
grain structure. 

The fixing hath can also create the troublesome 


106 



Contax; 85 mm. Triotar F:4; Super X exposed at Weston 32, by 
Mazda light; developed in Champlin #15. 


“Perfect development is the cornerstone of photographic achieve¬ 
ment and such an advance as the Champlin formulas must not be 
overlooked 


— J. E. Grant 


107 




phenomenon known as reticulation. Reticulation is a 
result of the rapid expansion and contraction of the 
gelatin. If the development process is conducted at 
70° Fahrenheit and the fixing or washing at higher or 
lower temperatures, there will be an instantaneous con¬ 
traction of the gelatin into little wrinkles and these 
wrinkles will remain after the film has dried and will 
ruin the negative for printing purposes. The fixing 
hath should contain a hardener so that the film emul¬ 
sion will be completely hardened and less liable to in¬ 
jury through changes of temperature. The chemicals 
carried from the developer to the fixing bath will 
quickly break down the fixing hath. This breakdown 
usually occurs long before it is apparent to the average 
kitchen photographer. One of the most important 
safeguards against reticulation in fixing films is a fresh 
fixing bath. 

The use of a hardening stop hath between develop¬ 
ing and fixation is a good practice. The hardening stop 
bath will neutralize some of the chemicals carried from 
the developer to the fixing bath and in addition, will 
harden the film and make it immune to the effects of 
the fixing bath and final wash. A good hardening stop 
bath can be compounded with: 

Water.16 ounces 500 ccs 

Sodium Bisulphite. *4 ounce 7 grams 

Potassium Chrome Alum. % ounce 7 grams 

The films should be rinsed for about one minute in 
this solution and then transferred to the fixing bath. 
This hardening stop bath can be made up by the ama¬ 
teur photographer who is not equipped with scales for 
weighing by simply using one-half teaspoonful each of 
sodium bisulphite and potassium chrome alum in a 
pint of water. Extreme accuracy is not necessary in 
measuring out this bath. This bath will not keep longer 
than one day. It should be used and then discarded. 
The liardening-fixing bath can be compounded from 
any good formula containing, besides the hypo, sodium 


108 






sulphite, acetic acid, and potassium alum. An excellent 
hardening-fixing hath can be made with plain hypo 
crystals and Velox Liquid Hardener in the proportions 
recommended by the Eastman Kodak Company on each 
bottle of hardener. Fixation should take twenty min¬ 
utes because that much time is required for the potas¬ 
sium alum to fully harden the gelatin emulsion of the 
film. When films are first immersed in the fixing bath, 
they should he agitated in order that no air-bells or 
bubbles can form and remain on the surface of the 
emulsion. Fine grain developing formulas usually con¬ 
tain chemicals that react and form a gas when first im¬ 
mersed in the fixing bath. This gas will remain upon 
the surface of the film in the form of bubbles or air- 
bells unless the films are agitated. These air-bells or 
bubbles will leave little round marks upon the film and 
will be a source of annoyance in printing and will re¬ 
quire retouching of the print. 

In drying films, care should be exercised that no dust 
is allowed to settle upon the surface of the emulsion. 
Dust is usually a result of carelessness and is a source 
of annoyance at all times. If dust is in the camera or is 
allowed to settle upon film before it is loaded into the 
camera, it will prevent the image formed by the lens 
from affecting the light-sensitive silver directly behind 
it, and there will be little clear irregular spots upon the 
film. These will form little black marks upon the final 
print. In loading 35 mm film into cartridges, work as 
quickly as possible so that dust will not have much time 
to settle upon the film. A film winder of some sort will 
prevent many dust blemishes upon film. 

While upon the subject of film, it may be well to 
caution users of 35 mm motion picture film against the 
practice of buying short ends of film. Many camera 
shops sell this film. It is really second-hand film and 
in common with second-hand goods, it sometimes has 
defects. It seems silly to buy a camera costing one or 
two hundred dollars and then attempt to save a cent or 


109 


two on the film required for eight pictures. The use 
of film in film manufacturers’ unopened packages, be 
it single cartridges or one or two hundred foot lots, is 
strongly urged. Remember this, that you cannot buy 
one hundred feet of film at one-half the price which 
motion picture studios pay when they buy one hundred 
hundred thousand feet of film. 

Several of the chemicals required for the formulas 
given in this hook are not commonly used in photog¬ 
raphy. Consequently photographic dealers are not 
likely to have them in stock, at least until they have 
had time to acquire them after the publication of this 
volume. 

The writer has no interest in directing purchases to 
any particular source, but advises that care be taken to 
secure high grade chemicals. 

The Edwal Laboratories, Inc., 732 Federal St., Chicago, 
Illinois, supply a good grade paraphenylenediamine 
(pure base), glycin, pyrocatechin and chlorhydroqui- 
none. The Mallinckrodt Chemical Works has branches 
in the principal cities. Their chemicals are of excellent 
quality and they should be aide to supply everything 
upon request. The Chemical Supply Company, 6324 
Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, can supply all of 
the individual chemicals for the Champlin Formulas 15 
and 16 and for those who do not wish to compound their 
own solutions, the developers can he supplied ready 
mixed. 

The author will he much interested in learning of the 
results obtained by those who follow the recommenda¬ 
tions given in this hook. He is always willing to help 
the serious student of fine grain problems, hut asks that 
readers refrain from sending to him questions on other 
subjects which can readily he answered by others. Com¬ 
munications should he addressed to Harry Champlin, 
9488 Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California. 


110 


APPENDIXES 


APPENDIX A 


Amateur Films 

Correctly exposed negatives will develop to a perfect 
contrast in a definite time. This time factor is depend¬ 
ent upon the temperature of the developing solution, 
the composition of the developing solution, and the de¬ 
veloping characteristics of the film emulsion. Some 
films require as much as four times as long as others to 
develop to a standard contrast. 

Certain allowances must he made for films which 
have a scratch-proof coating. This surface hardening 
or scratch-proofing is something like pre-hardening, and 
it prevents the solution from penetrating the emulsion 
so readily. This naturally results in an increase in 
time required to develop these films to normal con¬ 
trast. 

Filmpacks require twenty - five per cent more time 
to attain correct contrast because the surface of these 
films are coated to prevent scratching when drawn 
around to the back of the pack. 

Certain miniature films packed in daylight cartridges 
are also surface hardened so that they will not be 
scratched by the felt light-proofing of the cartridge. 
These films usually require about twenty per cent more 
time to attain normal contrast. 

In the following list films are classified according to 
their developing times. The number in the first column 
opposite each film indicates a classification and corres¬ 
ponds to the numbers opposite the developing times 
given with most of the developing formulas in the next 
section of this book. Films marked with one asterisk (*) 
require twenty per cent more time and those marked 
with two asterisks (**) require twenty-five per cent 


112 


more, time than the times given with the various for¬ 
mulas in the chapter following. 

The emulsion speeds for Formula 16 are also given. 
The figures shown under daylight Weston readings are: 
first, maximum over-exposure which can he safely given, 
the hest average emulsion speed and the minimum emul¬ 
sion speed. There is a column representing the correct 
Weston emulsion speeds for use in artificial light. The 
normal daylight emulsion speed can be used without any 
reference to the time of day or the predominating colors 
in the scene being photographed. However, the use of 
any photo-electrical exposure meter should be tempered 
with a certain amount of judgment and experience. 


Comparison Table of Speed Values 


Scheiner° 

Din° 

H&D 

Weston 

14 

7/10 

159 

3 

15 

8/10 

200 

4 

16 

9/10 

252 

5 

17 

10/10 

318 

6 

18 

11/10 

400 

8 

19 

12/10 

504 

10 

20 

13/10 

635 

12 

21 

14/10 

800 

16 

22 

15/10 

1000 

20 

23 

16/10 

1270 

24 

24 

17/10 

1600 

32 

25 

18/10 

2020 

40 

26 

19/10 

2540 

50 

27 

20/10 

3200 

64 

28 

21/10 

4040 

80 

29 

22/10 

5080 

100 

30 

23/10 

6400 

128 

31 

24/10 

8080 

160 

32 

25/10 

10160 

200 

33 

26/10 

12800 

248 

34 

27/10 

16160 

320 

35 

28/10 

20320 

400 


113 


Formula No. 16 

Speed of Weston Emulsion Speeds 

Develop- Daylight Mazda 

ment Minimum Average Maximum 

Agfa Films 


Film Speeds 


Plenachrome Roll Film. 

2 

16 

32 

40 

16 

Plenaehrome Filmpaek . 

Supersensitive Plenachrome Cut 

2 

16 

32 

40 

16 

Film . 

2 

20 

32 

40 

20 

Superpan. Roll Film . 

2 

20 

40 

50 

24 

Superpan. Filmpaek . 

2 

20 

40 

50 

24 

Finopan Fine-Grain . 

2 

20 

32 

40 

16 

Superpan. Press. 

5 

50 

144 

240 

50 


Defender Films 


Pan. X-fast . 

. 2 

24 

50 

64 

20 

Pan . 

. 1 

12 

20 

32 


Pentagon . 

. 3 

16 

32 

40 


XF Pan. Special. 

. 3 

24 

50 

64 

24 


Eastman Kodak Films 


Super X Roll Film . 

3 

24 

40 

50 

20 

Super Sensitive Panchromatic 






Roll Film . 

3 

24 

40 

50 

20 

Super Sensitive Panchromatic 






Filmpaek . 

3 

24 

40 

50 

20 

Verichrome Roll Film. 

3 

16 

32 

40 


Verichrome Filmpaek . 

3 

16 

32 

40 


Panatomic Roll Film . 

2 

12 

32 

40 

12 

Panatomic Filmpaek . 

2 

12 

32 

40 

12 

Super Sensitive Panchromatic 






Cut Film . 

3 

20 

50 

64 

24 

Portrait Panchromatic Cut Film 

2 

12 

40 

50 

20 

Mimosa Fine Grain Film . 

3 

6 

16 



Mimosa Extreme Film. 

3 

8 

24 



Perutz Fine Grain. 

3 

8 

24 

40 


Perutz Peromnia . 

3 

12 

24 

40 


Perutz Persenso. 

3 

12 

24 

40 


Selo Fine Grain Panchro. Film 

2 

12 

40 

40 


Selo Hypersen. Pan. Film. 

2 

16 

64 

64 


Selo Infra Red Roll Film . 

2 

1 

6 



Selochrome Roll Film. 

2 

16 

50 

50 


Selochrome Filmpaek . 

2 

16 

50 

50 


Zeiss Roll Film. 

3 

4 

20 

32 


Zeiss Filmpaek . 

3 

4 

20 

32 


Zeiss Pernox . 

2 

16 

32 

40 


Zeiss Pernox Pan . 

2 

16 

32 

40 

20 


114 


































35 mm Miniature Films 


Formula No. 16 

Speed of Weston Emulsion Speeds 

Develop- Daylight Mazda 

ment Minimum Average Maximum 


Agfa Ansco 35 mm Finopan . 

Agfa Ansco 35 mm Plena chrome 

Fine Grain .... 

Agfa Ansco 35 mm Infra Red . 

Agfa Ansco 35 mm Superpan New 

Type . 

Agfa Ansco 35 mm Superpan New 

Type Supreme . 

Agfa Ansco 35 mm Ultra Speed .... 

Du Pont 35 mm Superior Neg. 

Du Pont 35 mm Infra D . 

Du Pont 35 mm Micro Pan. 

Du Pont 35 mm Parpan . 

Du Pont 35 mm XL Pan. 

Kodak 35 mm Background Pan. .. 

Kodak 35 mm Panatomic . 

Kodak 35 mm Panatomic X . 

Kodak 35 mm Super X. 

Kodak 35 mm Super XX . 

Kodak 35 mm Super Sen. Pan. 

Kodak 35 mm Plus X Pan. 

Perutz 35 mm Neo-Perseno . 

Perutz 35 mm Rectepan . 

Perutz 35 mm Peromnia . 

Perutz 35 mm Perpantic . 

Selo 35 mm Extra Fine-Grain Pan. 
Selo 35 mm Fine-Grain Hyper 
Pan. 

Zeiss 35 mm Pern ox . 

Zeiss 35 mm Pernox Pan. 


2 

8 

24 

40 

12 

3 

8 

24 

32 

12 

3 

4 

8 

10 


3 

24 

100 

200 

64 

3 

24 

100 

200 

64 

5 

32 

144 

220 

64 

3 

16 

50 

64 

24 

2 

4 

• 8 

16 


1 

2 

8 



2 

6 

16 

20 


5 

24 

64 

100 

50 

4 

6 

20 

24 

8 

2 

8 

24 

32 

16 

2 

8 

32 

40 

20 

3 

16 

50 

64 

24 

3 

24 

80 

128 

40 

3 

12 

40 

64 

20 

2 

16 

64 

80 

32 

3 

12 

20 

32 


2 

8 

20 

32 


O 

O 

12 

40 

50 

20 

2 

8 

32 

40 


2 

6 

16 

24 


2 

12 

40 

50 


2 

12 

40 

50 


2 

12 

40 

50 



115 

























WARNING! 


It may be well to say something about the purity of 
the chemicals used in the Champlin Formulas given in 
this book. Sodium sulphite should be as free as possible 
from alkalis. Paraphenylenediamine should be a pure 
base and not the hydrochloride. Glycin should be of the 
highest purity. Glycin is an unstable chemical and some 
manufacturers add to it a preservative in order that it 
will not deteriorate too rapidly. It should be very fluffy 
and have a faintly sweet odor. If it appears lumpy or 
has any trace of an acid odor, it should not be used. This 
is highly important because glycin plays a major part 
in all these formulas. Acid digallic (tannic) should he 
of the highest purity because ordinary grades sometimes 
contain iron or other impurities which have a detri¬ 
mental effect upon the properties of the developer. For 
this reason this chemical, and the other acids recom¬ 
mended, should be of reagent quality and a photographer 
is urged to insist upon this quality when purchasing 
chemicals for these developers. 

Chlorhydroquinone is a chemical which should he 
neutral, which means it should he neither acid nor alka¬ 
line. If a test with litmus paper shows acidity, this 
chemical is unfit for fine grain work. 

Tironamine C is manufactured exclusively by the 
Chemical Supply Co., 6324 Santa Monica Blvd., Holly¬ 
wood, Calif. It may he obtained through your dealer or 
direct from the manufacturer. 


APPENDIX B 


APPENDIX B 


Developing Formulas 


Perfect negatives are a result of correct exposure and 
correct development. No negative will be perfect if 
one of these two factors is faulty. Correct exposure must 
be based upon the emulsion speed of the film and the 
emulsion speed of the developer. The emulsion speed 
of the film-developer combination is the basis upon 
which the exposure must be made. Some developing 
formulas will develop all of the light-affected silver 
halide, while other developing formulas will not. For 
this reason some developers require more exposure than 
others in order that negatives will have normal density. 
The selection of a developer should be based upon cer¬ 
tain required characteristics. The following list of de¬ 
velopers is given in order that the composition and 
characteristics of a number of developers can be readily 
compared. 

Each formula gives the composition of the developer. 
In compounding the solution the chemicals should he 
dissolved in the order given. Each chemical should be 
completely dissolved before the next one is added. The 
keeping qualities of the developers are given. This is 
highly important knowledge to any one attempting to 
use a developing solution more than once or over a 
period of time. The emulsion speed of the developer 
is given and this, too, is very important. Normally ex- 


118 


posed negatives will develop to a perfect density in a 
developing solution with an emulsion speed of 100. If 
the emulsion speed of the developer is 50, negatives will 
have to be exposed twice as long in order to attain the 
same density. Thus, it is possible with the emulsion 
speed figures given with each developer to expose a 
negative correctly for that developer. The developing 
times given are for normal density negatives. 

There is also given with each of the Champlin formulas 
a figure showing just how many ounces of developer 
are required to develop ten rolls of film correctly. This 
figure varies with the different developers and is a cor¬ 
rect indication of the reduction ability of the different 
developers. 

Agitation 

All of the developing times which follow are based 
upon agitation at every 10% of the developing time. In 
other words if the developing time is 20 minutes agita¬ 
tion should take place every 2 minutes. 

To determine the developing time for any given film 
in any given formula, turn to the table in Appendix A 
and look up the figure given in the first column opposite 
the film being used. Then turn to the formula in this 
section and use the developing time which appears 
opposite the same figure that accompanied the film in 
Appendix A. For example DuPont Superior is classified 
as 3 in Appendix A. If we turn to the Champlin #15 
formula in Appendix B we see that films in classification 
3 should be developed for 20 mins, at 70° F. or 18 mins, 
at 73° F. 


Eastman D-76 


Elon (metol)... 

Sodium Sulphite. 

Hydroquinone . 

. 3 V 2 ounces 

.72 grains 

2 grams 
100 grams 
5 grams 

Sodium Borate (borax).... T . 

Water. 

.29 grains 

.32 ounces 

2 grams 
1000 ccs 


This is a standard developer for large negatives. 
The grain structure is too coarse for 35 mm films. 
Keeping qualities: Good. 

Emulsion speed: 100 


119 







Eastman D-76-d 


Elon (metol). 

. 29 

grains 

2 grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 3^4 ounces 

100 grams 

Hydroquinone. 

. 72 

grains 

5 grams 

Sodium Borate (borax). 

.120 

grains 

8 grams 

Acid Boric crystals. 

.120 

grains 

8 grams 

Water. 

. 32 

ounces 

1000 ccs 


This developer is also a standard for large negatives. 
The grain structure is too coarse for miniature films. 
Keeping qualities: Good. 

Emulsion speed: 100 

Paraphenylenediamine-Sulphite Formula 

Water. 20 ounces 1000 ccs 

Paraphenylenediamine. 90 grains 9 grams 

Sodium Sulphite.525 grains 52 grams 

This is probably the finest grained formula so far pro¬ 
duced. 

Keeping qualities: Very poor. 

Emulsion speed: 14. 

The tremendous exposure increase necessary with this 
developer makes its use impractical. 


Metol-Paraphenylenediamine Formula 
A. Seyewitz Low Contrast Formula 


Water. 

.20 ounces 

1000 

CCS 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. E/4 ounces 

60 

grams 

Metol. 

.45 grains 

5 

grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

.90 grains 

10 

grams 

Tribasic Sodium Phosphate. 

.30 grains 

3.5 

grams 

Potassium Bromide. 

..10 grains 

1 

gram 


This developer was brought out because it gave an in¬ 
creased emulsion speed over the Sease #3 formula. 

Grain structure: fine and even. 

Keeping qualities: poor. 

Emulsion speed: 50 

Developing times: 65° 


1 — 7V£ min. 

2 — lli4 min. 

3— 15 min. 

4— 6min. 


120 

















Metol-Paraphenylenediamine Developer 
A. Seyewitz Low Contrast Formula 


Water. 

Sodium Sulphite. 

Metol.. 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

Hydroquinone. 

Tribasic Sodium Phosphate 
Potassium Bromide. 


20 

ounces 

1000 

CCS 

1% 

ounces 

60 

grams 

90 

grains 

10 

grams 

45 

grains 

5 

grams 

15 

grains 

1.5 

grams 

45 

grains 

5 

grams 

10 

grains 

1 

gratm 


This developer was brought out because it gave an in¬ 
creased emulsion speed over the Sease #3 formula. 

Grain structure: fine and even. 

Keeping qualities: poor. 

Emulsion speed: 50 

Developing times: 65° 


1— 9*/2 min. 

2— 14% min. 

3— 19 min. 

4— 7 1 / 2 min. 


Sease #3 Formula 


Water. 32 ounces 

Sodium Sulphite. 3 ounces 

Paraphenylenediamine.154 grains 

Glycin. c . 88 grains 


1000 ccs 
90 grams 
10 grams 
6 grams 


This is a standard fine grain developer for miniature 
negatives. 

The grain structure is very fine and very even. 

Keeping qualities: fair. 

Emulsion speed: 28. 


Developing times: 68° 

1 7 

2 12 

3 24 


Lowering the quantity of glycin will create an even finer 
grain structure and will give a corresponding decrease 
in emulsion speed. 


121 













Edwal-12 


Water (distilled). 32 ounces 

Metol. 90 grains 

Sodium Sulphite (anhydrous). 3 ounces 

Paraphenylenediamine (pure base).150 grains 

Glycin. 75 grains 


1 litre 
6 grams 
90 grams 
10 grams 
5 grams 


This is one of the most popular and widely used of fine 
grain formulas, and is probably the best of the 
developers containing paraphenylenediamine-glycin - 
metol. 


Keeping qualities: good 

Emulsion speed: 140* 


Developing times: 

65 

o 7Q o 

75° 

1 

12 

10 

7% 

2 

18 

15 

11 

3 

22 

18 

14 

4 

10 

8 

6 

*This rating applies to Panatomic, 

Du Pont Superior, and 

Finopan. The 

rating should be somewhat lower for 

most 

other films. Make test outlined 

in Chapter 3. 




Edwal-20 



Water (distilled). 


. 32 ounces 

1 litre 

Gradol. 


.... 75 grains 

5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine (pure base). 

150 grains 

10 grams 

Sodium Sulphite (anhydrous). 


. 3 ounces 

90 grams 

Glycin. 


. 75 grains 

5 grams 


Gradol (gray-dol) a product of the Edwal Laboratories, 
recently placed on the market. 


This formula was worked out to give finer grain than is 
possible with Edwal-12, without the sacrifice of good 
graduation. 


Keeping qualities: good 




Emulsion speed: 70 

Developing times: 

65° 

70° 

75° 

1 

14 

12 

10 

2 

22 

13 

14 

3 

26 

22 

18 

4 

11 

9 

7 


122 













Champlin #5 


Sodium Sulphite. 


22.5 grams 

Acid Salicyclic. 

. 4 

grains 

.3 grams 

Sodium Bisulphite. 

. 8 

grains 

.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

.59 

grains 

4 grams 

Glycin. 

.59 

grains 

4 grams 

Water. 


ounces 

250 ccs 


For use take one part of the above stock 
fifteen parts of water. 


solution and 


Keeping qualities: Perfect. 
Emulsion speed: 55 
Developing times: 

1 

2 

3 

4 


65° 

70° 

73* 


32 


Not 

35 

Not 

Recom¬ 

50 

Recom¬ 

mended 

28 

mended. 


Amount required to develop 10 rolls of 35 mm film: 
10 ounces. 


Champlin #6 Formula 


Sodium Sulphite. 

Acid Salicylic. 

Sodium Bisulphite. 

. 3 4 

. 4 

. 8 

ounce 

grains 

grains 

grains 

22.5 grams 
.3 grams 
.5 grams 
4 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

.59 

Glycin. 

.59 

grains 

4 grams 

Metol. 

.15 

grains 

1 gram 

Water. 

. 8 

ounces 

250 ccs 


For use take one part of the above and fifteen parts of 
water. 


Keeping qualities 

: 

Perfect. 



Emulsion speed: 70 
Developing times: 


65° 

70° 

73° 


1 

" 

32 

* 


2 

Not 

35 

Not 


3 

Recom¬ 

50 

Recom 


4 

mended 

28 

mended 


Amount required to develop 10 rolls of 35 mm film: 
10 ounces: 


123 















Champlin #7 Formula 


Water.... 

.20 

ounces 

1000 ccs 

Metol. 

.25 

grains 

2.5 grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 1 

ounce 

45 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 

. 9 

grains 

1 gram 

Acid Salicylic. 

. 4 

grains 

0.5 gram 

Acid Boric. 

.25 

grains 

2.5 grams 

Glycin. 

. y 4 

ounce 

11.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

. y 4 

ounce 

11.5 grams 


Keeping qualities: Excellent. 



Emulsion speed: 140 

Developing times: 65° 

70° 

73 

1 

13 

12 

2 Not 

16 

15 

3 Recom- 

i9y 2 

18 

4 mended 

9% 

8 


Amount required to develop 10 rolls of 35 mm film: 
24 ounces. 


Champlin 

#8 Formula 



Water. 

.64 ounces 

2000 ccs 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 3]/ 2 ounces 


100 grams 

Acid Pyrogallic. 

. % ounces 


34.5 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 

.36 grains 


2.4 grams 

Acid Salicylic. 

.15 grains 


1 gram 

Acid Boric. 

.75 grains 


7.5 grams 

Glycin. 

. % ounce 


34.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

. % ounce 


34.5 grams 

Keeping qualities: Perfect 

• 



Emulsion speed: 130 




Developing times: 

65° 

70‘ 

73° 

1 


14 


2 

Not 

17 

Not 

3 

Recom¬ 

20 

Recom¬ 

4 

mended. 

10 

mended. 

Amount required to develop 10 rolls 35 

mm film: 16 

ounces. 





124 


















Champlin #9 Formula 


Water. 

Rubinol (Defender). 

Sodium Sulphite. 

Acid Benzoic. 

Acid Salicylic. 

Acid Boric. 

Acid Digallic (Tannic). 

Glycin. 

Paraphenylenediamine.. 
Alcohol Iso Propyl 97% 


.20 ounces 
.32 grains 
.. 1^/2 ounces 
.18 grains 
.. 4 grains 
.25 grains 
... 9 grains 
... 14 ounce 

% ounce 
. 1 ounce 


1000 ccs 

3.5 grams 
60 grams 

2 grams 
0.5 gram 

2.5 grams 
1 gram 

11.5 grams 

11.5 grams 
50 ccs 


Keeping qualities: Perfect. 


Emulsion speed: 160 

Developing times: 


65° 

70° 

73° 


1 


13 



2 

Not 

16 

Not 


3 

Recom¬ 

19% 

Recom¬ 


4 

mended. 

10 

mended. 


Amount required to develop 10 rolls of 35 mm film: 
31 ounces. 


Champlin #10 Formula 


Water. 

.64 

ounces 

2000 ccs 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. 3i/ 2 

ounces 


100 grams 

Acid Pyrogallic. 

. % 

ounce 


34.5 grams 

Acid Benzoic. 

.36 

grains 


2.4 grams 

Acid Salicylic. 

.15 

grains 


1 gram 

Acid Boric. 

.75 

grains 


7.5 gram 

Glycin. 

. % 

ounce 


34.5 grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

. % 

ounce 


34.5 grams 

Alcohol Iso Propyl 97%. 

. 3 

ounces 


90 ccs 

Sodium Sulphate. 

. 3% 

ounces 


100 grams 

Keeping qualities: Perfect. 




Emulsion speed: 130 





Developing times: 

65° 


70' 

’ 73° 

1 



14 


2 

Not 


17 

Not 

3 

Recom¬ 


20 

Recom¬ 

4 

mended. 


10 

mended. 


Amount required to develop 10 rolls 35 mm film: 16 
ounces. 


125 






















Champlin #11 Formula 


Water. 

.20 

ounces 

1000 

CCS 

Rubinol (Defender). 

.32 

grains 


3.5 

grams 

Sodium Sulphite. 

. iy 2 

ounces 


60 

grams 

Acid Benzoic. 

.18 

grains 


2 

grams 

Acid Salicylic. 

. 4 

grains 


0.5 

gram 

Acid Boric. 

.25 

grains 


2.5 

grams 

Acid Digallic. 

. 9 

grains 


1 

gram 

Glycin. 

. y 4 

ounce 


11.5 

grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

. % 

ounce 


11.5 

grams 

Alcohol Iso Propyl 97%. 

.i 

ounce 


50 

CCS 

Nickel Chloride. 

.20 

grains 


2 

grams 

Keeping qualities: Good. 






Emulsion speed: 180 






Developing times: 

65° 


70° 


73° 

1 



13 


11 

2 

Not 


16 


14 

3 

Reconi- 

20 


18 

4 

mended 

11 


9y 2 

Amount required to develoj 

i 10 rolls of 

35 

mm. film: 


40 ounces. 


Champlin #15 Formula 


Water. 


.20 ounces 

1000 

CCS 

Rubinol or Pyro. 


.32 grains 


3.5 

grams 

Sodium Sulphite 


. iy 2 ounces 


60 

grams 

Acid Benzoic. 


.12 grains 


1.2 

grams 

Acid Salicylic. 


. 4 grains 


0.5 

grams 

Acid Boric. 


.25 grains 


2.5 

grams 

Acid Digallic (Tannic). 

. 9 grains 


1 

gram 

Glycin. 


. % ounce 


11.5 

grams 

Paraphenylenediamine. 

. % ounce 


11.5 

grams 

Alcohol Iso Propyl 97%. 

. 1 ounce 


50 

CCS 

Nickel & Ammonium Sulphate ... 

.10 grains 


1 

gram 

Keeping qualities 

: Perfect. 





Emulsion speed: 200 






Developing times: 


65° 

70° 


73° 


1 


13 


11 


2 

Not 

16 


14 


3 

Recom- 

20 


18 


4 

mended 

11 


9y 2 


5 


22 y 2 


i9y 2 

Amount required 

to develop 10 rolls of 

35 

mm film: 


32 ounces. 


126 
























In compounding formula No. 15, dissolve the chemi¬ 
cals in the order shown. Dissolve the pyro first, then the 
sulphite and the acids and glycin in about two-thirds of 
the water. The paraphenylenediamine should be dis¬ 
solved separately in a small quantity of water which has 
been heated to 180 degrees fahrenheit and should then be 
added to the developer. After the developer has cooled 
to 70 degrees fahrenheit, dissolve the nickel and ammo¬ 
nium sulphate in a small quantity of water—one ounce, 
and add slowly to the developer. A precipitate will form 
which should be stirred into the developer. This pre¬ 
cipitate will be milky, but will clarify immediately upon 
stirring. The developer should then be filtered through 
the filter paper commonly used by chemists; a coarse 
cloth or absorbent cotton will not suffice for this purpose. 
The alcohol can be added to the solution at any time 
after it has been cooled to 70 degrees fahrenheit. The 
resulting quantity of developer can vary as much as ten 
per cent in volume over the amount of water shown 
without any noticeable difference in final result. 

Develop for the times given and increase time 2 min¬ 
utes for each additional roll of film developed. 

It will be noted that the #15 formula reads “Rubinol 
or Pyro”. Rubinol is definitely required for the #9 
developer but it has been found that in the presence of 
nickel and ammonium sulphate there is no discernible 
difference in the action of these two chemicals, conse¬ 
quently they may be used interchangably in the #15 
formula. 


127 


Champlin Formula No. 16 


Water. 

. 400 

CCS 


12 ounces 


Sodium sulphite . 

. 50 

grams 

1% ounces 


Chlorhydroquinone . 

. 25 

grams 

% ounce 


Tironamine-C . 

. 30 

CCS 


1 ounce 


Water to make. 

. 500 

CCS 


16 ounces 


Keeping qualities: Perfect. 





Emulsion speed: 300. 






Developing times: 

65° 


70° 

75° 

80° 

1 

8 


6 3 / 4 

5 

4 

2 

9 % 


8 

6 % 

5 

3 

11 


9V 2 

8 

6 

4 

6% 


5 % 

4 % 

3% 

5 

12 


10 

8 % 

7 


Dissolve the chemicals in the order given. This forms 
a concentrated solution. For use dilute one part of the 
above with nine parts of a 10 per cent sodium sulphite 
solution. This 10 per cent of sodium sulphite solution 
can be made by dissolving approximately one and one- 
half ounces of sodium sulphite (anhydrous) in sixteen 
ounces of water. It is not necessary to filter this stock 
solution. Formula 16 was compounded originally with 
the idea of taking a small cjuantity of stock solution, 
diluting it with water, and then discarding it after a roll 
of film has been developed. This is probably the thing 
to do because developers which have been used once are 
contaminated by silver and other products. However, in 
the interest of economy, it is possible to use the diluted 
solution four times and each time the development time 
should be increased 10 per cent over the times recom¬ 
mended for a fresh solution. This is probably the best 
developing formula offered for miniature camera work. 
The writer of this book knows this is the best formula 
he has compounded to date and the amateur photog¬ 
rapher is strongly urged to try it because, if he does try 
it, he will adopt it as the standard for all of his work. 
The grain structure is exceptionally fine, while the emul¬ 
sion speed and tone quality cannot he compared to that 
of any other developer on the market today. The grain 
structure depends upon strict adherence to the develop¬ 
ing times shown above. 

Tironamine C is manufactured exclusively by the Chemical Supply Co., 
6324 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, Calif. It may be obtained through your 
dealer or direct from the manufacturer. 








CHEMICALS 


General Chemicals, Raw Materials, 
and Developing Substances Used in 
Fine Grain Developing Formulae. 


By 


Samuel Fox, Pharm. D. 


FOREWORD 


Every aspect of photography requires a scientific ap¬ 
proach, especially as we begin now to understand more 
fully the intricate processes that take place in produc¬ 
ing a photographic negative and the prints therefrom. 
Fine artistry has often been impaired or even nullified 
as a result of underrating the importance of the chem¬ 
ical processes involved and the chemicals used in pho¬ 
tography. In the following pages we shall attempt to 
deal with one of the problems of photography from a 
purely chemical point of view. Although knowledge of 
chemistry is desirable, we shall attempt to deal with 
the subject in such a manner so that any photographer 
can read this with benefit. 

One of the most important functions of the discrim¬ 
inating photographer is his choice of the materials with 
which he brings out the desired effect of his exposures 
which represent his personal artistry. As the technique 
of the photographer has become more complex, a criti¬ 
cal demand for finer grade chemicals has arisen. In the 
following pages we shall enumerate some of the chemi¬ 
cals commonly used by the photographer including 
their various chemical properties, their applications and 
functions, and the highest purity necessary for best re¬ 
sults. 


SAMUEL FOX, Pharm. D, 


130 


General Recommendations 


We recommend that special care be used in weighing 
the chemicals. We found that good white vegetable 
parchment to be placed on the scale pans is safe, as it is 
neutral in reaction. Stainless steel spatulas or hard 
rubber ones are also indicated, and glass stirring rods 
and glass vessels for mixing. 

Dissolve the various chemicals in the solutions with 
the least amount of heat necessary. Distilled water is 
recommended throughout. 

A Harvard Trip Balance is recommended. It is of 
good size and capacity and very reasonable for that type 
of balance. Prices range from nine to twelve dollars 
for single and double beam. The beams are usually 
marked with the metric system. On this balance you 
can weigh with an accuracy of one decigram. 


131 


Volume 


METRIC EQUIVALENTS 


1 minim (water) 

1 fl. dr. 

1 fl. oz. 

1 Apoth. oz. (water) 
1 pint 
1 qt. 

1 gal. (U.S.) 

1 cc. 

1 cc. 

1 cc. 

1 liter 
1 liter 
1 liter 

Weight 
1 grain 
1 oz. Avoir. 

1 oz. Troy 
1 lb. Avoir. 

1 lb. Troy 
1 lb. Avoir. 

1 Mgm. 

1 Gm. 

1 Kilo. 

1 Kilo. 

1 Kilo. 

1 Kilo. 

1 Kilo. 

Gm. -f- 28.35 


— 0.06161 cc. 

— 3.70 cc. 

— 29.5737 cc. 

— 31.1035 cc. 

0.4732 liter 

— 0.9464 liter 

— 3.7854 liters 

— 16.23 minims (water) 

— 0.2702 fl. dr. 

— 0.0338 fl. oz. 

1.0567 qt. 

— 0.2642 gal. 

- 33.84 fl. oz. 


— 64.7989 Mgm. 

- 28.3495 Gm. 

- 31.1035 Gm. 

— 0.4536 kilo. 
0.3732 kilo. 

—453.5924 Gm. 

— 0.01543 grn. 

- 15.432 grn. 

- 33.814 fl. oz. 

2.205 lb. Avoir. 

— 2.679 lb. Troy 

— 35.274 oz. Avoir. 
—- 32.151 oz. Troy 

— oz. Avoir. 


ABBREVIATIONS 


Avoirdupois 


Metric 


fl. dr. —fluid dram 
fl. oz. —fluid ounce 
qt. —quart 

lb. —pound 

grn. —grain 

Apoth.—Apothecaries measure 
Avoir. —Avoirdupois measure 


cc. —cubic centimeter 
Mgm.—Miligram (.001) 
Gm. —Gram 
Kilo. —Kilogram (1000) 


132 


ORGANIC REDUCING AGENTS 


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133 


(Pyrogallic acid) 
(Tri-oxy-benzene) 


AUXILIARY CHEMICALS 


A Reference List of General Chemicals Used in Photography. 


Name Formula Solubility Molecular 




in H 2 0 

Weight 


Preservers 



Sodium sulphite 

Na 2 S0 3 

Easily 

126.05 


Keepers 



Potassium metabisulphite 

k 2 s 2 o 5 

Readily 

222.32 

(Potassium sulfite-pyro) 




Sodium bisulphite 

NaHSCL 

Slowly 

104.00 

(Sodium sulphite-acid) 





Accelerators 



Ammonia Water 

NH 4 OH 

Miscible 

34.03 

Borax (Sodium tetraborate 

I Na 2 Bi0 7 10 H 2 0 

Readily 

381.43 

Glycerin 

C 3 H 8 O 3 

Miscible 

92.06 

Sodium carbonate 

Na 2 C0 ;! .H 2 0 

Readily 

124.02 

Sodium hydroxide 

NaOH 

Readily 

40.00 

Potassium carbonate 

K 2 C0.3 

Readily 

138.20 

Potassium hydroxide 

KOH 

Readily 

56.11 


Restrainers 



Potassium bromide 

KBr 

Readily 

119.02 

Potassium iodide 

KI 

Very readily 166.03 

Sodium chloride 

NaCl 

Easily 

58.45 

(Common salt) 





Other Agents 



Acetic acid 

CH 3 COOH 

Readily 

60.03 

Alcohol (Ethyl) or (grain) 

C 0 H 5 OH 

Miscible 

46.00 

Boric acid (Boracic acid) 

H 2 B0 3 

Readily 

61.84 

Citric acid 

H3CeH307.H 2 0 

Readily 

210.08 

Formaldehyde 

ch 2 o 

Easily 

30.02 

Potassium alum 

A1K(S0i) 2 .12H 2 0 

Slowly 

474.41 

Potassium chrome alum 

K 2 Cr 2 (SO 4 ) 424 H 2 0 

Slowly 

998.95 

Sodium sulphate 

Na 2 SO 4 ^-10H,O 

Readily 

322.05 

Sodium thiosulphate (Hypo 

) Na 2 S 2 0 3 5H 2 0 

Easily 

248.19 

Water (Distilled) 

h 2 o 


18.02 


134 



ACETONE 


(CH 3 ) 2 CO 

Physical Characteristics : Clear, colorless, highly in¬ 
flammable liquid, charac¬ 
teristically ethereal odor. 


Molecular Weight 
Specific Gravity 
Boiling Point 
Solubility 


: 58.05 

: about 0.798° 

: 56.48° Centigrade 
: In water, ether, and alcohol. 


Maximum Limits of Impurities 


Non-Volatile . 0.001% 

Precipitated by ELO . 0.000% 

Acids (as HC 2 H 3 0 2 ) . 0.003% 

Alkaline Substances (as NH 3 ) . 0.001% 

Aldehyde . 0.000% 

Subs. Reducing KMnCh . 0.000% 


Conforms to A. C. S. * specifications. 


Acetone can he used as a substitute for alkalis in cer¬ 
tain developers. The addition of 3% acetone to acid 
developing solutions will act as a tremendous energizer 
of the solutions. 

*—-A. C. S. stands for American Chemical Society. 


ACID ACETIC, 99.5% 

CH 3 COOH 

Physical Characteristics: Clear colorless liquid; strong 

pungent odor; vapor is in¬ 
flammable. 


Molecular Weight 
Freezing Point 
Boiling Point 
Solubility 


60.03 

15.8° Centrigrade 
118.1° Centrigrade 
In water, alcohol, ether, 
chloroform and glycerine. 


Maximum Limits of Impurities 

Non-Volatile . 

Chloride (Cl) . 

Sulphate (SO*) . 

Iron (Fe) .. 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 

Subs. Reducing KmnCL . 

Subs. Precipitated by H a O . 


0.0005% 
0 . 0001 % 
0 . 0002 % 
0 . 0002 % 
0 . 0000 % 
0.000 % 
0.000 % 


135 
















Conforms to A.C.S. specifications. 

Acetic acid is used in the preparation of acid fixing 
baths. It is used to counteract or neutralize the alkalis 
carried in the film emulsion from the developer to the 
fixing hath. The strength commonly used in photog¬ 
raphy is 28% with a specific gravity of 1.038. This 
strength can be prepared from glacial acetic acid by 
diluting three parts of glacial acetic acid with eight 
parts of water. Lower grades of acetic acid often con¬ 
tain oxidizable impurities and considerable quantities 
of iron. Acetic acid should he kept in dark, tightly 
stoppered bottles. 


ACID BENZOIC 

CoHsCOoH 

Physical Characteristics : Colorless lustrous needles or 
scales. 

122.05 
1.2659 

121.25° Centigrade 
249.2° Centigrade 
In alcohol and ether; slightly 
soluble in water; readily sol¬ 
uble in 10% sodium sulphite 
solution. 

Maximum Limits of Impurities 


Chlorine Compounds (Cl) . 0.001% 

Ignition Residue . 0.002 % 

Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0002% 


Conforms to A.C.S. specifications. 

Acid benzoic can be used as a restrainer in fine grain 
formulae and it also exerts a slight hardening action 
upon gelatin. The amount of acid benzoic should not 
exceed 1 y 2 grams per litre of developer. More than this 
amount will prolong developing time beyond reasonable 
limits. Acid benzoic is a stable organic acid and keeps 
well with ordinary care. 


Molecular Weight 
Specific Gravity 
Melting Point 
Boiling Point 
Solubility 


136 






ACID BORIC 

H3BO3 

Physical Characteristics : Colorless transparent crystals 
or white powder. 

Molecular Weight : 61.84 

Specific Gravity : 1.4347 

Melting Point : 184° Centigrade 


Solubility : In water, alcohol, glycerine, 

and volatile oils. 

Maximum Limits of Impurities 

Insoluble in Alcohol .1... 0.00 % 

Non-Volatile with Methanol . 0.05 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.001 % 

Phosphate (P0 4 ) . 0.001 % 

Sulphate (S0 4 ) . 0.010 % 

Arsenic (As) . 0.0003% 

Calcium (Ca) .:. 0.003 % 

Iron (Fe) . 0.001 % 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005% 

Conforms to A.C.S. specifications. 


Acid boric is used in developers containing pyro and 
its derivatives, and as a restrainer, and in developing 
formulae as a buffer in order that the acid-alkalinity of 
the solution may be maintained. If the concentration 
of acid boric is too high, it will act as an effective stop 
bath and the developing solution will be useless. Acid 
boric is a very stable inorganic compound, keeps well, 
is very slightly affected by heat or light, and ordinary 
care is sufficient in storing. 


ACID CITRIC 


H3CoH 5 07.H 2 0 


Physical Characteristics : Colorless, odorless crystals. 

Molecular Weight : 210.08 

Specific Gravity : 1.542 

Melting Point : 153° Centrigrade 

Solubility : In water, alcohol, and ether. 


Maximum Limits of Impurities 

Residue on Ignition . 

Insoluble Matter . 

Oxalate (C2O4) .-. 

Phosphate (P0 4 ) . 

Sulphate (SO*) . 

Tartrate (C 4 H 6 O 0 ) . 


0.020 % 
0.00 % 
0.05 % 
0.001 % 
0.002 % 
0.2 % 


137 

















Calcium (Ca) . 0.005 % 

Iron (Fe) . 0.0005% 


Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005% 

Conforms to A.C.S. specifications. 

Acid citric can be used as a preservative in some de¬ 
veloping solutions and as a restrainer in others. It can 
be used in pyro developers and will prevent the forma¬ 
tion of the yellow pyro stain. Acid citric can be used 
in hardening-fixing solutions. One part of acid citric is 
equivalent to two parts of acid acetic 28%. Acid citric 
can be substituted for acid acetic glacial weight for 
weight. Citric acid is a stable organic acid, keeps well 
if not exposed to heat, and effloresces in warm air. 

ACID DIGALLIC (Tannin) 

Ci^HioOu 

Physical Characteristics : Yellowish white to light 

brown amorphous bulky 
powder. 

Molecular Weight : 322 

Melting Point : Decomposes at 210° Centi¬ 

grade. 

Solubility : In water and alcohol; slight¬ 

ly soluble in ether; soluble 
in glycerin with the aid of 
heat. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 

Ignition Residue . 0.10 % 

Sugar and Dextrin ... 0.000% 

Water . 12.0 % 

Acid digallic has been recommended as a hardening 
agent in the developing solution. The action of this 
chemical in a developer is to harden the developed im¬ 
age in proportion to the amount of reduced silver in 
the image. This hardened image forms a base upon 
which dyes can be mordanted. This organic acid gives 
blue or green colors or precipitates with iron (ferric) 
salts, and precipitates solutions of gelatin and albumin. 
Indications are that this acid has many photographic 


138 








possibilities. It should be kept in a dry cool place, well 
corked, and away from metallic contacts. 

ACID HYDROCHLORIC, 36-37% 

HC1 

Physical Characteristics : Clear, colorless fuming liquid. 
Molecular Weight : 36.46 

Specific Gravity : 1.19 

Solubility : In water; miscible in all pro¬ 
portions with alcohol and 

water. 

Maximum Limits of Impurities 


Non-Volatile ... 0.0005 % 

Free Chlorine (Cl) . 0.0002 % 

Sulphate (SO 4 ) . 0.0002 % 

Sulphite (SO 2 ) . 0.003 % 

Arsenic (As) ... 0.00001% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.0001 % 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005 % 


Conforms to A.C.S. specifications. 

Acid hydrochloric can he used in a developer in order 
that the Ph indication may be lowered. There will be 
an increase in contrast depending upon the amount of 
acid hydrochloric added to the solution. Acid Hydro¬ 
chloric is one of the strongest inorganic acids known. 
Its salts are usually the most soluble, the outstanding 
exception being silver chloride, which particularly 
makes for interest in photography. Acid hydrochloric 
should he kept in well stoppered glass bottles at or¬ 
dinary temperatures. 

ACID LACTIC 

CH 3 CH.OH.COOH 

Physical Characteristics : Clear, colorless or slightly 

yellowish, odorless, syrupy, 
optically inactive liquid. 
Molecular Weight : 90.05 

Specific Gravity : 1.2485 

Solubility : In water, alcohol, and ether. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 

0 . 020 % 
0 . 002 % 


Non-Volatile 
Chloride (Cl) 


139 











Sulphate (SCh) . 0.005% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.001% 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.000% 

Substances Darkened by H 2 SO 4 . Trace 

Sugars . 0.00 % 


Acid lactic acts as a preservative for organic sub¬ 
stances. In amidol developers, 5 ccs of acid lactic to 
1000 ccs of developer will prevent the rapid deteriora¬ 
tion of amidol. If the concentration of acid lactic is in¬ 
creased to 3%, it will act as an efficient stop hath and 
arrest development. This organic acid is more readily 
oxidizable than most organic acids used in photography. 
It is rather hygroscopic and should, therefore, be kept 
in tightly sealed dark bottles and protected from ex¬ 
cessive light and heat. 

ACID SALICYLIC 

C6H4OH-COOH 

Physical Characteristics : Fine, white, odorless, acicular 
crystals or crystalline powder. 

: 13*8.05 
: 1.483 

: 158° Centigrade 
: In alcohol and ether; slightly 
soluble in water; highly sol¬ 
uble in 10% sodium sulphite 
solutions. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 


Residue on Ignition . 0.020% 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.002% 

Sulphate (SCL) .0.004% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.000% 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.000% 


Acid salicylic is a preservative of organic substances. 
It is a fairly stable organic compound and changes 
slightly on exposure to air and light. It should be 
stored in dark bottles closely corked and away from 
metallic contacts. Acid salicylic has a tendency to pre¬ 
vent gelatin from absorbing water. 


Molecular Weight 
Specific Gravity 
Melting Point 
Solubility 


140 












ALCOHOL ETHYL 
ctloh 


Physical Characteristics : 


Molecular Weight 
Specific Gravity 
Freezing Point 
Boiling Point 


Colorless, volatile, inflam¬ 
mable liquid. One of the 
outstanding major known 
solvents. 

46 

.785 

-112.3° Centigrade 
78.4° Centigrade 


Alcohol ethyl is frequently added to photographic 
emulsions because it is a preservative and seems to ex¬ 
ercise some control over silver halide grain. It is an 
excellent solvent for many organic substances. 


ALCOHOL ISO-PROPYL 
CH 3 CHOHCH 3 

Physical Characteristics : Colorless liquid somewhat re¬ 
sembling acetone. Used in the 
manufacture of intermediates. 
Molecular Weight : 60.06 

Alcohol iso-propyl is gradually becoming a favorite 
in developing formulas, due to its high solvent proper¬ 
ties and penetration. 97-98% strength only is recom¬ 
mended for photographic use. 

ALCOHOL METHYL 
CHsOH 

Physical Characteristics : Clear, colorless, very mobile 

liquid; burns with a non¬ 
illuminating flame; has high 
solvent qualities. 

32.03 
.7913 

-97.8° Centigrade 
66.78° Centigrade 
In water, alcohol, and ether. 


Molecular Weight 
Specific Gravity 
Freezing Point 
Boiling Point 
Solubility 


141 




Maximum Limits of Impurities 


Non-Volatile ... 0.001 % 

Precipitated by ELO . 0.000 % 

Acetone, Aldeydes . 0.000 % 

Acidity (as HC 2 H 3 0,) . 0.003 % 

Alkalinity (as NH 3 ) . 0.0003% 

Ethyl Alcohol .abt. 1 

Subs Darkened by ELSO* .Passes A.C.S. test 

Subs. Reducing KMnCfi —.Passes A.C.S. test 


Alcohol methyl or wood alcohol is not recommended 
for photographic use because of its tendency to produce 
fog in the developed image. 

AMIDOL 

(Diaminophenol HC1) 

C«H 3 (OH) (NH 2 )o,2HC1 

Physical Characteristics : Grayish white crystalline sub¬ 
stance. 

Molecular Weight : E97.05 

Solubility : Easily soluble in water; 

slightly soluble in alcohol. 

The importance of amidol over the other developers 
is that it can be used without any alkali. Amidol tends 
towards bluish blacks and is one of the most rapid de¬ 
velopers known. It has thirty to forty times the reduc¬ 
ing energy of hydroquinone. Amidol, which is usually 
used in acid solutions, tends to produce fine grain nega¬ 
tives. Apparently this acidity is important for these 
results. 

Great care is necessary in the handling of amidol due 
to its extreme sensitivity to oxidation. Solutions should 
be prepared as needed because stock solutions lose their 
developing power within a few days. This oxidation 
takes place without any visible discoloration. The chem¬ 
ical itself should be kept tightly corked and away from 
heat and light. 

AMMONIA WATER, 28% 

(Ammonium Hydroxide, NH 4 OH) 

Physical Characteristics: Colorless liquid; intense, 
pungent, suffocating odor; 
strong alkaline reaction. 


142 










Specific Gravity : .897 

26° Be minimum 27%NH3 
Boiling Point : 38.5° Centigrade 

Solubility : Miscible with all proportions 

of water and alcohol. 

Maximum Limits of Impurities 


Non-Volatile . 0.010 % 

Carbon Dioxide (C0 2 ) .. 0.005 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.0001% 

Phosphate (PCh) ./.... 0.000 % 

Sulphur Compounds (as SOd . 0.001 % 

Iron (Fe) . 0.0002% 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005% 

Pyridine ... 0.00 % 

Subs. Reducing KMnO* . 0.000 % 


Ammonia water can be used as an accelerator of de¬ 
veloping solutions. It is caustic and will therefore have 
a tendency to enlarge the grain structure of a negative. 
When speed is a primary consideration, films can he 
placed in a closet and subjected to the fumes of am¬ 
monia water. This will hyper-sensitize the film and 
increase its emulsion speed from 200-300%. There will 
be a corresponding increase in the grain structure when 
this is done. Avoid iodine, chlorine, acids and most 
metallic salts. Caution: Keep cool in strong glass 
stoppered bottles not completely filled. 

AMMONIUM CARBONATE 
NH 4 HC0 3 +NH 4 NH 2 C0 2 

Physical Characteristics : White, hard, translucent 

lumps or cubes which lose 
NH 3 and C0 2 on exposure to 
air. 

Molecular Weight : 157 

Melting Point : 85° Centigrade 

Solubility : In 5 parts of water; decom¬ 

poses in hot water. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 


Residue on Ignition . 0.010 % 

Insoluble Matter ... 0.005 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.0005% 

Phosphate (PO) .. 0.0005% 


143 
















Sulphur Compounds (as SO) ...—. 0.002 % 

Iron (Fe) .-. 0.0005% 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005% 

Conforms to A.C.S. specifications. 

Ammonium carbonate may be used to replace potas¬ 
sium or sodium carbonate. It is difficult to keep this 
salt for any length of time without chemical changes 
taking place in it. 

AMMONIUM CHLORIDE 
NHiCl 


Physical Characteristics : White odorless granules oi 

powder. 

Molecular Weight : 53.50 

Specific Gravity : 1.520 

Solubility : In water, alcohol and am¬ 

monium hydroxide. 


Maximum Limits of Impurities 


Insoluble Matter . 0.005 % 

Residue on Ignition . 0.010 % 

Free Acid .Passes A.C.S. Test 

Phosphate (PO<) . 0.0002% 

Sulphate (S0 4 ) . 0.002 % 

Sulphocvanate (CNS) . 0.000 % 

Arsenic (As) .. 0.0002% 

Calcium and Magnesium Precip. . 0.002 % 

Iron (Fe) . 0.005% 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005% 


Conforms to A.C.S. specifications. 


Ammonium chloride is used in fixing solutions in or¬ 
der to speed up the process of fixation. One of the un¬ 
usual properties of this salt is that it sublimes without 
melting. When the fumes from hydrochloric acid and 
ammonia meet, they immediately form a white smoke 
which is ammonium chloride. This is a stable salt at 
ordinary temperatures. When NH 4 CL is added to an 
alkaline solution, ammonia is liberated, thereby reduc¬ 
ing the alkalinity. 


FORMALDEHYDE 

CHA) 

Physical Characteristics : Clear, colorless liquid of pum 
gent odor. 


144 















Molecular Weight : 30.02 

Specific Gravity : 1.075-1.081 

Solubility : In water and alcohol. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 

Non-Volatile ..... 0.040 % 

Acid (as CHOOH) . 0.03 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.000 % 

Sulphate (S0 4 ) . 0.002 % 

Iron (Fe) . 0.0005% 


Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) .. 0.000 % 

A 10% solution of formaldehyde is used as a harden¬ 
ing bath immediately after fixing for both negatives 
and prints. Very small quantities of formaldehyde 
have the power to prevent swelling of gelatin so that 
the gelatin will withstand warm solutions. Formalde¬ 
hyde should be kept in dark, tightly corked bottles. 
Usually formaldehyde contains small quantities of 
Formic acid which gives it an acid reaction. Normally 
formaldehyde is neutral in reaction. It is a powerful 
reducing agent. Silver nitrate will, under suitable con¬ 
ditions, be reduced to metallic silver. 

GLYCERIN 

C 3 H 5 (OH) 3 

Physical Characteristics : Clear, colorless, syrupy li¬ 
quid; absorbs moisture from 
the air. 


Molecular Weight : 92.06 

Specific Gravity : 1.2604 

Melting Point : 17° Centigrade 

Boiling Point : 290° Centigrade 

Solubility : In water and alcohol; insol¬ 

uble in ether. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 

Non-Volatile ... 0.005 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.0005% 

Sulphate (SOJ . 0.001 % 

Ammonia (NH 3 ) . 0.000 % 

Arsenic (As) .. 0.0002% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.000 % 


Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.000 % 


145 















Acrolein & Sugars .Not detectable 

Fatty Acid Esters . 0.05 % 

Silver Reducing Substances . None 

Subs. Darkened by H2SO4 .Passes test 


Glycerin is used in fine grain developing solutions 
because of its ability to penetrate the emulsion and al¬ 
low free access to the reducing agents. The life of a 
developing solution containing paraphenylenediamine 
will be materially reduced when glycerine is added to 
it. Glycerin is a popular solvent for many substances. 


GLYCIN 

(Paraoxyphenyl glycocoll) 

CoH 4 (OH)NH CH,COOH 

Physical Characteristics : White to grayish brown sub¬ 
stance. This substance is 
poisonous and should not be 
confused with the medicinal 
glycine which is chemically 
Amino Acetic acid. 

Molecular Weight : 151.08 

The use of glycin photographically is important in 
that it does not produce fog under prolonged use even 
in the absence of soluble bromide. It is noted as a fine 
grain developer. It keeps well in solution, and is there¬ 
fore specifically recommended for continuous use in 
tank development. A glycin developer is slow hut 
powerful. 


HYDROQUINONE 

CoH 4 (OH) 2 


Physical Characteristics 
Molecular Weight 
Melting Point 
Boiling Point 

Solubility 


White, colorless crystals. 
110.08 

170° Centigrade 

285° Centigrade at 730 mm 

pressure. 

In 16 parts of water at 15° 
Centigrade; very soluble in 
alcohol and ether. 







The developing properties of hydroquinone were dis¬ 
covered by Abney in 1880. Hydroquinone is rather a 
slow developer but it is noted for its strong contrast ef¬ 
fects. It is seldom used alone due to its slow action, but 
is combined with other speedier developers. Its solution 
oxidizes very rapidly as will the crystals. Therefore 
both the solution and salt should be kept tightly corked 
and away from heat and light. At temperatures below 
50° Fahrenheit, hydroquinone ceases to act. 

METOL 

CelhOH.NHCHa, Vz H 2 S0 4 
Mono Methyl Paramino Phenol Sulphate 

Physical Characteristics : White, crystalline powder. 

Molecular Weight : 172.16 

Melting Point : 250°-260° Centigrade, with 

decomposition. 

Solubility : 1:20 in cold water; 1:6 in 

boiling water. 

Metol was introduced commercially in 1891. Since 
then many American manufacturers have introduced 
this chemical under various trade names, such as Photol, 
Elon, et cetera. This type of organic compound is a 
mild reducing agent and possesses the property of de¬ 
veloping exposed silver halide. Relative reducing 
energy of this compound as compared to hydroquinone 
as a standard is 20 to 1. Metol is seldom used alone but 
usually with hydroquinone or adurol. It is considered 
a soft working developer. 

PARAPHENYLENEDIAMINE 

Base (C 6 H 4 (NH 2 ) 2 ) 

Physical Characteristics : Colorless to slightly reddish 

crystals. 

Molecular Weight : 108.11 

Melting Point : 140° Centigrade 

Solubility : In water, alcohol and ether; 

heat increases solubility to an 
unusually large extent. 


147 



PARAPHENYLENEDIAMINE 
Hydrochloride (C 0 H 4 (NH 2 ) .2HC1) 

Molecular Weight : 181.05 

Solubility : Easily soluble in water; 

slightly soluble in alcohol 
and ether. 

These substances have a very low reducing energy 
and are therefore slow developers. They are noted for 
production of fine grain images. They are practically 
devoid of contrast-giving properties. Both substances 
darken generally on exposure and should be kept in 
tightly corked containers away from light and heat. 

POTASSIUM ALUM 
A1K(S04) 2 .12H,0 

Physical Characteristics : Large, colorless, hard, trans¬ 
parent crystals or white crys¬ 
talline powder. 

474.41 
1.7571 

105° Centigrade 
In 8 parts cold water and 
equal parts in boiling water; 
insoluble in alcohol. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 


Insoluble Matter . 0.010 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.0005% 

Ammonia (NH 3 ) . 0.030 % 

Arsenic (As) . 0.0002% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.001 % 


Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.002 % 

Potassium alum is used in hardening-fixing solutions 
because of its hardening effect upon gelatin. The hard¬ 
ening power of potassium alum is quickly exhausted by 
the presence of glycin and paraphenylenediamine in 
the solution. For this reason hardening-fixing baths 
containing potassium alum should be renewed fre¬ 
quently. 


Molecular Weight 
Specific Gravity 
Melting Point 
Solubility 


148 









POTASSIUM BROMIDE 

KBr 


Physical Characteristics : 

Molecular Weight : 

Specific Gravity : 

Melting Point : 

Boiling Point : 

Solubility : 


Colorless crystals or white 
granules. 

119.02 

2.749 

730° Centigrade 
1435° Centigrade 
In water; slightly soluble in 
ether and alcohol. 


Maximum Limits of Impurities 


Insoluble Matter ... 0.005 % 

Alkalinity (as K CO) .,. 0.005 % 

Bromate (BrO) . 0.001 % 

Chloride (Cl) ... 0.40 % 

Iodide (I) . 0.00 % 

Nitrogen Compounds (as N) . 0.001 % 

Sulphate (SO) . 0.005 % 

Barium (Ba) ... 0.002 % 

Calcium, Magnesium and NH OH Precip. 0.005 % 

Iron (Fe) . 0.0005% 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005% 


Conforms to A.C.S. specifications 

Potassium bromide is added to developing solutions as 
a restrainer. Minute quantities of this chemical will 
eliminate fog in the emulsion and will decrease shadow 
detail causing more contrast. As the bromide is in¬ 
creased, the emulsion speed of the developer is de¬ 
creased. Potassium bromide is rarely added to fine 
grain developers. This salt should be nearly free from 
copper and heavy metals. 


POTASSIUM CARBONATE 


Physical Characteristics : 

Molecular Weight : 

Specific Gravity : 

Melting Point : 

Boiling Point : 

Solubility : 


K,C0 3 

White, granular, deliquescent 
powder. 

138.20 

2.3312 

909° Centigrade 
Volatile at white heat. 

In water; insoluble in ether 
and alcohol. 


149 















Maximum Limit of Impurities 


Insoluble Matter . 0.025 % 

Moisture . 2.000 % 

Chloride and Chlorate (as Cl) . 0.005 % 

Nitrogen Compounds (as N) ... 0.002 % 

Phosphate (PO 4 ) . 0.005 % 

Sulphur Compounds (as SOd . 0.015 % 

Arsenic (As) . 0.0005% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.002 % 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.0005% 


Potassium carbonate is used as an accelerator in cer¬ 
tain developing formulas. It is also used as a neutral¬ 
izer and dehydrating agent. 

POTASSIUM METABISULPHITE 

k 2 s 2 o 5 

Physical Characteristics : Colorless, crystalline or white 
powder. 

Molecular Weight : 222.32 

Solubility : In water; insoluble in alcohol. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 

Chloride (Cl) ..... 0.005 % 

Arsenic (As) ... 0.0005% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.002 % 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.002 % 

Potassium metabisulphite is used as a preservative in 
developers and for acidulating hypo baths. Its prin¬ 
cipal use is as an addition to pyro developers in order to 
preserve and to prevent excessive oxidation of the pyro. 
At times potassium metabisulphite is used in place of 
sodium sulphite and in several popular developing 
formulas is recommended along with sodium sulphite. 

SODIUM BISULPHITE 
NaHSCh 

Physical Characteristics : White, crystalline powder; 

faint sulphur dioxide odor. 
Molecular Weight : 104 

Melting Point : Decomposes 

Solubility : In water; insoluble in alco¬ 

hol. 


150 















Maximum Limit of Impurities 


Chloride (Cl) . 0.010% 

Arsenic (As) . 0.000% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.002% 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) . 0.002% 


Sodium bisulphite is used for preserving organic re¬ 
ducing substances in developers. It is used also in the 
ordinary acid fixing baths. It should be nearly free 
from iron and copper. Metabisulphite, which is some¬ 
times found in sodium bisulphite, causes decomposition 
of the hypo solution. Sodium bisulphite is a strong re¬ 
ducing agent and is incompatible with acids and oxidiz¬ 
ers. 

SODIUM BORATE 

NaoBAh.lOHoO 

Physical Characteristics : White, hard prismatic crys¬ 
tals or fine powder. 
Molecular Weight : 381.43 

Solubility : In water and glycerin; insol¬ 


uble in alcohol. 

Maximum Limits of Impurities 

Insoluble Matter .. 0.005 % 

Carbonate (C0 2 ) . 0.00 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.001 % 

Phosphate (POi) . 0.001 % 

Sulphate (SOd . 0.005 % 

Arsenic (As) . 0.0003% 

Calcium (Ca) . 0.005 % 

Iron (Fe) . 0.002 % 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) ..... 0.001 % 

Conforms to A.C.S. specifications 


Sodium borate is used as an accelerator in some de¬ 
veloping formulas. Aqueous solutions of sodium borate 
are slightly alkaline. It is often used as a buffer to 
maintain a mild alkalinity in photographic solutions. 

Sodium Carbonate, Monohydrate 
Na 2 C0 3 .H 2 0 

Physical Characteristics: White, odorless granular or 
crystalline powder; efflor¬ 
esces in warm dry air. 
Molecular Weight : 124.02 


151 















Solubility 


: In 3 parts of water and in 7 
parts of glycerin. 

Sodium carbonate is the alkali generally used in de¬ 
veloping solutions. It is not recommended in fine grain 
developing solutions because of its tendency to cause 
turbulence in the emulsion during the process of de¬ 
velopment, which results in a coarse grain structure. It 
should be free from caustic. It is incompatible with 
acids. The monohydrate is generally preferred to the 
anhydrous and decahydrate because of higher stability. 
On account of its adverse effect on the fine grain struc¬ 
ture of the negative, some operators have tried other 
substances with much success. 


SODIUM SULPHATE 


Na.SO* + 10H.O 

Physical Characteristics : Colorless crystals 
Molecular Weight : 322.21 

Solubility : In 3 parts of water; insoluble 

in alcohol; the solution is 
neutral to litmus paper. 

Sodium sulphate is used in developers whenever it is 
necessary to develop at temperatures exceeding 74° 
Fahrenheit. Its action is to inhibit or delay swelling of 
the gelatin for a period generally long enough for the 
development process to be completed. Either the crys¬ 
talline or anhydrous salt can be used in their proper 
proportions. Many alkaline salts will act likewise, hut 
this one seems to be the favorite. 


SODIUM SULPHITE 


Na 2 S0 3 

Physical Characteristics : White, crystalline powder; a 
very strong reducing agent. 
Molecular Weight : 126.05 


152 


Solubility : In 4 parts of water; insoluble 

in alcohol. 

Maximum Limit of Impurities 

Insoluble Matter . 0.01 % 

Free Acid ... None 

Free Alkali (as Na 2 C0 3 ) . 0.3 % 

Chloride (Cl) . 0.020 % 

Thiosulphate —.Not detectable 

Arsenic (As) . 0.0002% 

Iron (Fe) . 0.001 % 

Other Heavy Metals (as Pb) .. 0.001 % 


Conforms to A.C.S. specifications 

Sodium sulphite is used in practically all developing 
formulas because of its tremendous affinity for oxygen. 
The action of this chemical is to absorb the oxygen in 
both the air and water and oxidize itself to sodium sul¬ 
phate. In the form of sodium sulphate it is inert. In 
absorbing the oxygen, sodium sulphite preserves the or¬ 
ganic reducing substances in the developer from oxida¬ 
tion. Another theory is that it forms a complex salt 
with the developer which is less subject to oxidation 
than either alone. Sodium sulphite is one of the im¬ 
portant chemicals that particularly require careful se¬ 
lection, handling, and storing. It should be kept in 
fairly small air-tight containers away from light and 
heat, without metallic or caustic contamination. 

SODIUM THIOSULPHATE 

Na2S 2 03.5H 2 0 

Physical Characteristics : Colorless, slightly efflorescent 

crystalline compound. 

248.19 
1.729 

48° Centigrade 
Decomposes 

In water and oil of turpen¬ 
tine; insoluble in alcohol. 

Hypo is the common name used among photograph¬ 
ers for sodium thiosulphate. Its use as a fixing bath is 
based on the fact that the hypo solution dissolves the 
silver halides which have not been affected by the ac- 


Molecular Weight 
Specific Gravity 
Melting Point 
Boiling Point 
Solubility 


153 











tion of light. Better grades of hypo have heen obtained 
recently due to improved methods of manufacture. 
Clean hypo is important, and care in keeping it in clean 
containers is recommended. 

Water 

By reason of its extensive solvent powers not only of 
solids hut also of gases, water generally becomes con¬ 
taminated with foreign matter even under great care. 
Distillation is the usual method employed for purifica¬ 
tion even to the extent of three or more distillations for 
complete purity. The solvent powers afterward, how¬ 
ever, even extend to dissolve parts of the containers it 
is kept in. 

The principal interest of water in photography is 
its purity. Redistilled water is indicated and should be 
kept in glass containers that have little free alkali con¬ 
tent. Where distilled water is not practically obtain¬ 
able, natural soft water can he used because it does not 
contain as many impurities as ordinary water and can 
be tested by its readiness to make a lather with soap. 
Hard water is a variety which contains calcium or 
magnesium salts or other alkalis. Most of the public 
drinking waters are chlorinated for antiseptic and 
health purposes and, of course, are contraindicated for 
photographic uses. 


154 


ADVERTISEMENTS 


We 'Take ftleaSute 

in announcing that AIR. HARRY CHAMPLIN has 
again appointed us as the EXCLUSIVE manufacturer 
of his Formulas. Among these are the 

NOW FAMOUS No. 15 

and the 

NEW SENSATIONAL No. 16 

To be sure of obtaining genuine Champlin products, 
loo\ for his signature on each package. 

AL¬ 

CHEMICAL SUPPLY COMPANY 

6324 Santa Monica Blvd. Hollywood. California 



DO YOUR FRIENDS ASK YOU QUESTIONS? 

Every photographer, amateur or professional, is asked an endless 
stream of questions by struggling beginners. These questions 
must be answered but the time and trouble involved takes a 

HOW TO USE YOUR 
CAMERA 
25c 

By George Allen Young Editor of 
Camera Craft 

Answers these questions, simply and clear¬ 
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Tell your questioning beginners to read 

HOW TO USE YOUR CAMERA . . 25c 

From your dealer or 

Camera Craft Publishing Company 

425 Bush Street San Francisco, California 



156 






(rnta?e 

THE UNIVERSAL 
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CONTAX II: 

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157 





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Photography by 

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An excellent exposition of photogra¬ 
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158 





CHEMICALS 


suitable for 

CHAMPLIN FORMULAS 

Sodium Sulfite Anhydrous Photo....5 lb. and I lb. cans 

Acid Benzoic A.R--l / 4 lb. and I oz. bots. 

Acid Salicylic A.R...__% lb. and I oz. bots. 

Acid Boric Photo _I lb. and 1/4 lb. ctns. 

Acid Boric A.R. Crystals_I lb. and % lb. bots. 

Acid Tannic A.R. (Digallic)_%. lb. and I oz. bots. 

Glycin Photo_% lb. and I oz. bots. 

Para-Phenylene Diamine Base.-J /4 lb. and I oz. bots. 

Alcohol Propyl Iso 98/99%_I lb. and % lb. bots. 

Nickel Ammonium Sulphate A.R... I lb. and % lb. bots. 

A.R. means Analytical Reagent, the purest type of 
chemical obtainable. We can also supply U.S.P. 
and other grades on many of these chemicals. 

Your regular photo supply dealer, who undoubt¬ 
edly distributes Mallinckrodt chemicals, is familiar 
with your requirements. 

MALLINCKRODT CHEMICAL WORKS 

St. Louis, Missouri 

72-74 GOLD STREET NEW YORK CITY. N. Y. 


159 












USE 

£dural C. H. Q. 

(CHLORHYDROQUINONE, ACID FREE) 


FOR MIXING YOUR CHAMPLIN #16 


—Use C.H.Q. in your paper developers too—weight 
for weight in place of hydroquinone. It will give 
your prints snap and contrast and eliminate 
aerial fog. 

—Edwal C.H.Q. is one of a complete line of Edwal 
photo chemicals made to help you get better pic¬ 
tures. Write for the Edwal formula booklet and— 


Specify EDWAL When You Buy 


THE EDWAL LABORATORIES, INC. 

732 FEDERAL ST. CHICAGO, ILL. 




Complete Information 
on 

Photographic Books 

THE CAMERA CRAFT 
BOOK SERVICE 

Send for our 

FREE CATALOG 

Camera Craft Publishing Company 

425 Bush Street San Francisco, Calif. 


160 


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